Partners In Crime
by HK7747
Summary: Katie and Harry make a professional Quidditch team, but after having bad relationships, decide to avoid it all together by putting on a show and making everyone think they're together. But will stay a show? Rated T, might change later.
1. Chapter 1

Harry felt a wave of nerves as he sat there in the changing rooms before his try-out for the Manchester Dragons. The prestigious Quidditch Premiership team had contacted him with a view to said try-out shortly after the defeat of Voldemort. They had scouted him throughout his Hogwarts career and were ready to offer him a place in their new remodelling of the team.

The squad from last year had completed a sixth trophy-less year, but still ended up in a spot for the European Quidditch tournament, with the finale to be held in London. The team was old and could no longer reproduce the results they had in the glory days when there was seemingly no competition. The newly appointed manager, Simon Brown, had opted to remodel the team with the youngest, brightest prospects in order to resurrect the fear this team instilled on their opponents.

Also in the dressing room were about twenty seven other hopefuls. Harry looked around and recognized some of the other prospects in there, either by word of mouth, or by having seen some of them around Hogwarts.

There was Jordan Fletcher, a beater from a smaller wizarding school in south-west England; off to the side was Samuel Cleverley, the reserve Chaser from the Gryffindor team, who had come a long way since riding the bench a few years back. He had been scouted in a few talent scrimmages, and had obviously caught the eye; there was also Ron, who sat beside him, going through his usual jittery spell of sickness; another beater was Logan Anderson, who had also been at the talent scrimmage, but Harry wasn't sure of his school of origin; and then there was Anthony Smalling, another Chaser who had been picked out from a private Irish school and promised a lot. Other than that, there were no faces Harry recognized.

As they all sat there, coping in their own ways with the daunting task at hand, the door burst open and in flew a blonde female with half her Chaser's padding on. Harry smiled as he most certainly recognized this face as Katie Bell's. He recalled her knack of being nearly fashionably late to practices.

"Have I missed anything?" she asked to no-one in particular, until she spotted Harry and Ron, and plopped herself down in between them and proceeded to hastily don the rest of her padding.

"Nope, still waiting," Ron gulped.

"Phew, and I thought I was going to miss it!" she chuckled.

There was no reply to that and she soon assumed the grave expressions that most wore, as they knew by rumour how gruelling this try-out was going to be and how ruthlessly selective they were going to be with who they admitted to the team. Only fourteen would walk away today as Dragons, seven of whom starters and the others as reserves in case of injury or overly long games.

Half of the people trying out today will go home happy, the others, not so much. Harry didn't like the odds, no matter how much Ron had assured him that his skill and already big name would very much work in his favour.

A few minutes more of this uncomfortable silence and a man walked in.

"Hello all, my name's Simon Brown, and I'm the manager of the Manchester Dragons," he said simply, seeming to relish the opportunity to say that.

There were collective gasps and replies of his greeting as they realized who it was.

"Settle down, settle down," he chuckled. "You're all here today to show us why you were scouted as potential Dragons. We're looking for players who we know can work day in, day out, sunrise to sunset to make sure they're the best players they are so that we can be the best team in the league. A lot of you are good players, but in order to be excellent players, you're going to need to show that you've got the determination and the attitude necessary to make it with the big names out there. You all come in to this try-out with clean slates. No matter what we've seen of you before today, no matter your name, gender, origin, or blood status, you all have an equal chance to make it today."

He fixed his gaze on Harry when he said this last part. Harry smiled, liking the fact that should he make the team, it would not be because he defeated the most feared dark wizard of all time.

"Now, enough of me rambling, let's see how you guys do out there! Best of luck!" He said, and with that he spun on his heel and exited the dressing room.

The room suddenly erupted into conversation as everybody couldn't believe what they had just witnessed. The door opened again and Simon popped his head back in.

"Erm, you _were_ supposed to follow me, you know that?" he asked.

Everyone scrambled to their feet and made after him, soon coming out onto the brightly-lit pitch, shielding their eyes as they adjusted to the change in lighting.

The hopefuls were sorted into the positions they were trying out for and it turned out that there were four people to each position.

They started out with a few laps of the immense stadium, and then proceeded to do a speed lap, with Harry out-stripping the entire group on his Firebolt. He waited on the ground as the others finished up.

"Well done, Potter," Simon said, scribbling down some notes. "You handle the broom really well and seem to sit rather naturally on it, rather than almost all Quidditch players, even the pros, who sit uneasily on their broom: either too stiffly or too loosely. You're one of the best fliers I've seen. I'm anxious to see how you do when we test your skill."

He allowed the group a breather and then had them kick off again, this time to test out the keeper hopefuls. The others lined up and one by one threw the Quaffle, with Simon taking note of the hopefuls that were trying for Chaser positions.

Simon had the Chasers keep going and had his assistant keep an eye on them. Simon brought over the beaters and seekers and explained this drill.

"Alright, so we've seen how you can do as auxiliary Chasers, so now let's see you in your elements. I'm going to release a Snitch and two Bludgers. The four seekers are going to go after the Snitch, naturally, and the Beaters will be sending the Bludgers at each other. Seekers: some of the Bludgers will be heading your way, so we have to see you dodge them; Beaters: you'll have to stay on your toes, because the seekers might come whizzing by at any moment, and just like in a match, you'll also have to get out of their way. There's nothing worse than having a collision take out both a beater and our seeker. Alright, off you go!"

With that, an assistant on the ground released the Snitch and Bludgers and they all set off on their different missions. Harry zoomed after the Snitch, only to see it disappear among the red and gold banners of the stadium. That was one of the reasons Harry had agreed to this trial. It would be another chance to don the colours of Gryffindor house, despite it not being exactly that team.

He shook his head and barrel-rolled suddenly as a Bludger came screaming his way. He suddenly spotted the Snitch at the other end of the stadium and his opponents already pursuing it. Harry took off in a direct line that would head off the Snitch. A beater suddenly backed into his path and Harry improvised. He quickly stood and leaped and flipped over the beater as his broom zoomed underneath. He had timed it to perfection, as he landed comfortably in his seat and once again leaned over the broom to get maximum speed. He was suddenly at the point where he and the Snitch would meet and obligingly plucked it out of the air.

"Well done, Potter! Now release it and touch down!" he heard Simon shout. He complied and was once again on solid ground, panting from his high speed catch.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and straightened up to see Simon standing there, looking at him with a smile.

"Now I know why you were the youngest Hogwarts player for a century! That was a great dodge on the Bludger and when you avoided the beater there, that was pure genius and only the most skilled seekers can catch a Snitch at that high of a speed, and that quickly!"

"Thank you, sir," Harry replied gratefully. He knew that all that complimenting wasn't easy to come by from the Dragons manager.

"Not a problem, son," he said.

Something jumped in Harry at being addressed as 'son'. It was a word he had hardly heard (if ever) directed to him, and that the man beside him had used it seemed to indicate he was forging a long-term connection with him.

He answered his thoughts: "I want to offer you the starting Seeker position, the number 7 uniform. And from what I've heard about you organizing that group of students and teaching them defensive magic, well, that's the mark of a great leader and I also want to give you captaincy of the Dragons."

"I-Well, it's an honour, sir, but I'm just not sure. I don't want it to be because I'm Harry Potter and I'll get special treatment and so on-" Harry began.

"It's not," Simon cut in sharply. "If Merlin himself turned up, broom in hand, I wouldn't give him anything unless he proved it. I'm not offering you all this because you're the Chosen One. I'm offering it because I know it'll be what's best for the team."

"Alright," Harry nodded. "I accept."

"Great," the manager beamed, offering his hand, which Harry shook. "If you could follow Albert over there and he'll bring you up to have your robes fitted and made, so that you can sign your contract, and so that we can get a few pictures for player paraphernalia."

Harry grinned and followed the man Simon indicated. He was brought up to what Albert told him was the kit room. He donned the new kits for this season, the yet-to-be-unveiled home kit: red robes with white decorating designs and the also unreleased away and alternate kits: the former an all-black ensemble with gold detailing and the latter the same but in white and blue. They all had a dragon emblazoned on the chest in the colour of the detailing.

Albert held his wand to the robes and muttered a few spells and they shrunk slightly to Harry's size. Once they were all his size, Albert laid them all out and had them backs-up and tapped them again with his wand. Suddenly, they all had 'POTTER' and the number seven on the backs. He also noticed when Albert flipped them over the word CAPTAIN stitched on the shoulders.

He donned each set of robes in turn and posed for photos in each, along with his broom and padding. Once this was done, he went over to an adjoining room, where fourteen stacks of parchment lay on the table. He went up to the first set and filled out all the necessary information and finally signed his name with a flourish on the dotted line on the last page.

When he was lead back into the room where he was fitted, he found the other thirteen players who had been selected for the team. He beamed as he saw all the players that he had recognized in the change rooms had been selected. He ran up to Ron and Katie and high-fived the former and hugged the latter.

"Congratulations guys!" he said and they replied in kind.

He saw the seven he didn't recognize walk straight into the room where he had signed his contract. He suspected (correctly) that they were the reserve team.

The others donned their fitted kits and took individual pictures as he did before they all assembled and took group shots in each kit, with Harry spear-heading the arrow formation they posed in.

Soon after, Katie, Ron, and Harry were walking outside of the stadium following the photoshoot.

"Ugh, I never thought that would end! 'Harry, just tilt your head _this_ way a little bit! Harry, hold your arm up a little more!' I seriously wanted to punch that photographer!" Harry fumed.

"Easy there, Mr. Captain," Katie replied, laughing at his annoyance.

"You're right, do you guys want to go for drinks at the Three Broomsticks?" he asked.

"Sure," Katie shrugged.

"Actually, Mum wanted me back at the Burrow soon as things were wrapped up," Ron said apologetically.

"Well, tell her your captain ordered you to join him!" Harry replied.

Ron laughed: "I'll see. You two save a table just in case, alright?"

They nodded and with that, he apparated, leaving the other two standing there.

"Shall we?" Harry asked, offering his arm.

Katie smiled and grabbed it and Harry apparated towards Hogsmeade.

They entered the Three Broomsticks, seeing the usual sort of crowd that haunted the tavern. They threaded their way through the closely-placed tables and found a booth to their liking; complete with extra room should Ron show up.

Harry went and grabbed a few Butterbeers and sat down, offering Katie hers.

After a few swigs, Harry broke the silence: "So, how've you been? I haven't seen you since the Battle of Hogwarts, as they call it."

"Really? I've heard it dubbed as 'The Triumph of Harry Potter over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'. And I've been well, obviously, seeing as how I just made left Chaser for the Manchester Dragons! Well, relatively well. My personal life's been crap since Hogwarts."

"That other title seemed a bit of a mouthful and also narcissistic. And what do you mean by a crappy personal life?"

"I've had a couple of boyfriends since Hogwarts, but not for long and very bitter partings," she replied. "How've things been with Ginny?"

"Ginny and I broke up a few months after the Battle. Turns out she just wanted the fame, and even then, she was still going strong with Dean behind my back. So I gave her the bird and have been flying solo since."

"How did that not piss off Ron?"

"He was initially pissed off, but when he found out she was only in it for the glory and that she was cheating on me, he came to his wits and we were back on terms."

Katie nodded her comprehension: "Ouch. That must not have been a pleasant experience."

He shrugged: "I got over it. But not after a night of Butterbeer and chocolate frog binging. Needless to say, I now have a chocolate frog card collection that rivals Ron's. Ron was by my side as soon as he found out about the binge. He was always banishing the sick when the drinking caught up with me."

Katie chuckled: "That's nothing. After my second post-Hogwarts boyfriend dumped me, I was making Firewhisky and ice cream floats, with liquorice wand straws. Alicia and Ange took turns holding my hair back for the next six hours."

Harry winced at that: "Okay, you've got me beaten. Why do we have to have the two crappiest love lives in the British wizarding world?"

"I dunno. But, we're also some of the luckiest two people in Britain at the moment, to be playing for the Dragons."

"True," Harry admitted. "But that might just attract worse relationships as people will be glory hunting."

"True," Katie repeated, eliciting a chuckle from Harry. She then leaned forward, with a playful glint in her eye: "What if you and I just combined forces? The two unluckiest people and we give the bird to all the crappy boyfriends/girlfriends we've had?"

Harry frowned slightly: "Are you asking me out?"

"Well, not actually," she back-tracked, blushing slightly. "I mean, what if we make it seem to the public as if we are, that way we _don't_ attract glory hunters. Guys won't go after me because that would be stealing _the_ Harry Potter's girlfriend and vice versa. And bitches know I can throw a mean right hook."

Harry laughed at the last bit: "Alright, deal. So when does this 'relationship' start?"

"Once we've got the media's attention fixed on us," Katie replied.

"Oh, because I don't already," Harry said sarcastically.

"What I meant is that we should start building up some 'suspicion' in the Dragons camp, with some kind of growing attraction being hinted at, then 'overly personal celebrations' during/after the first game, should we win, and then perhaps even after said game, if not the one after, being spotted leaving the stadium holding hands."

Harry had procured a writing utensil and used a napkin to write all this down. When he finished, he looked down at the notes.

"Alright, I like the sound of this," he said approvingly, then shot a glance at his watch. "Merlin's beard, it's late! I'll have to get going. See you later, babe!" he added that last bit quietly and with a wink in her direction, eliciting a laugh from the blonde.

"Until next time, Cap'n!" she called after him.


	2. Chapter 2

***Shoot, I forgot this on the last chapter! XD Anyways, this is a DISCLAIMER that I don't own Harry Potter or anything related therein, and it is simply out of admiration for the series and its characters that I write this.***

Harry slumped down in front of his locker in the Dragons' locker room after yet another training session. They were two days away from their tough season opener against the Harpies and Simon was determined to get them up to speed.

"They're a tricky side, and especially since they beat us to signing Angelina Johnson." The three ex-Gryffindors exchanged looks. "But still! We have an amazing team and we'll give them a run for their money! Rest up tomorrow and you're to be here noon sharp to get ready to receive the Harpies."

With that, everybody separated to go shower and change. Harry stood under the warm downpour and closed his eyes. He pictured walking out the tunnel and onto the pitch of the legendary Everlast Stadium, home to the Dragons. He heard the crowd chanting his name, images flashing through his head of the upcoming game.

He shook himself out of his reverie and finished up his shower, changing back into a Dragons t-shirt and jeans.

When he came out into the changing room once more to pack up his things, he was alone. He hung his broom on the hooks in his locker, grabbing a magically enlarged duffel bag and throwing his training gear and pyjamas (it was an early practice) in, closing his locker and spinning the lock away from the final number. He grabbed his wand and spun on the spot, apparating onto the doorstep of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Upon his arrival, Kreacher launched himself at Harry, offering to make him the usual post-practice meal.

"Thanks, but no," he said, shocking the elf. "I'll handle things. You take the day off."

Kreacher looked baffled at this request, until Harry gave him a Galleon: "Just go do what you've always wanted to! But be sure to be back at a respectable hour!"

He nodded and vanished, leaving Harry to himself. He fixed himself a (surprisingly) good version of what Kreacher would have made him. As he sat at the empty table, an owl flew in and landed in front of him, offering him its letter, which he opened.

"_Dear Harry,_

_If you ever wanted to reach me, or stop by for a visit, my address is 77C Busby Way. It's the flat I've just bought. Reply with your information._

_Katie"_

Harry flipped the sheet over and replied with the address and stated that he'd floo by at around 7 p.m. and sent it off with the owl.

Not long after, the owl returned with a fresh sheet of parchment.

"_Just apparate. The former tenant had white carpets installed around the fireplace, so hold off on the floo until I get them removed. But 7 p.m.'s good. See you then!_

_Katie"_

Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was 4 o'clock, so he took his time finishing his meal and trudged up the stairs to Sirius's old room, grabbing an old tennis ball and bouncing it off the ground, then the door and back to him. He repeated this with his back to the bed and sitting on the ground. He did this a lot when he was thinking.

Why had he agreed to Katie's scheme so easily? Normally, that wasn't the sort of thing he'd agree to, but for some reason, he had suddenly found himself agreeing to it!

His thoughts carried away all sense of time and he suddenly broke out of his thoughts to find that he had half an hour before he went to go meet Katie.

He bolted to the washroom, enchanting a razor to remove his stubble, a comb to tame his hair and set to furiously brushing his teeth. Within minutes, he deemed himself presentable and took to sitting in one of the library armchairs with twenty minutes to go.

Harry was now puzzling over this sudden grooming. Katie had seen him this morning messy-haired and scruffy-bearded. He shook his head and left the house, donning a leather jacket on his way out. He always wore this jacket in memory of Sirius, its previous owner. It was originally baggy on Harry until he shrunk it to fit him as it had Sirius.

In the inside left pocket, right above his heart, was a photo of Sirius and James laughing and enjoying themselves at Harry's parents' wedding.

Once outside in Grimmauld Place, Harry turned up the collar against the downpour, taking one look around to be sure of no muggles before turning on the spot, all the while thinking 77C Busby Way.

He stumbled on his landing in the downtown Manchester flat that belonged to Katie, looking around for the blonde.

A voice drifted over from deeper in the flat: "Hello? Harry? Is that you?" It was Katie, alright.

"Yeah, it's me! Where are you?" He called out.

"In the bath! Just, erm, have a seat in the living room, I'll be right with you!"

Harry cautiously ventured into the flat, quickly locating the living room and sitting on the couch, patiently awaiting his host. She came in shortly after, towelling off her damp hair and wearing a red tank top and jeans.

He was suddenly struck by something: "Erm, did you dye your hair?"

She was now drying brunette hair, instead of the blonde he was accustomed to.

"Nope, washed out the dye. I'm naturally a brunette. I just had it blonde while I was at Hogwarts and kept it for a bit. I decided I was sick of the blonde."

Harry whipped out his wand and cast a drying spell on her hair. She blushed, embarrassed: "Thanks. Dunno why I didn't think of that."

Harry waved it away: "Not a problem, luv."

She beamed at this: "So? What do you think?" she asked, twirling in a circle.

"Definitely more... you," he said, trying to find the right word.

Her hand went to her hips, which she cocked, and her eyebrows went up: "Are you saying that I was ugly as a blonde?"  
>Harry backtracked quickly: "No, no, no, no! You look great no matter the hair colour, it's just that your natural hair colour suits you better."<p>

She held her pose, causing Harry to worry, until she relaxed: "Well played, Potter. Well played."

Harry nervously chuckled his relief.

"So! Where are we off to?" Katie asked, putting on her jacket.

Harry shrugged: "I don't know. I'm not familiar with the area, so I figured we'd walk until we found something to do."

Katie nodded her approval: "Gives me a good chance to get to know the city a little better, seeing as how I'll be living here for the five years I'm on contract, provided I stay with the club."

They descended the stairs and stepped out into the ongoing downpour. Harry cast a protective bubble around them and they were no longer touched by rain.

They found the main road and casually walked down it, with Harry de-activating the bubble and then transfiguring a stick into an umbrella when no-one was around.

After about a quarter of an hour, the two of them agreed on a nice little diner and got their booth. Harry quickly apparated into Diagon Alley and withdrew several Galleons, some of which he converted into muggle money. He apparated back into the bathroom stall he had 'occupied' at the diner and then returned to his and Katie's booth, just in time for the waitress to take their orders.

As they ate, they alternated between small talk and hype about the upcoming game. Harry paid for the meal and they emerged into a subdued drizzle.

"Where's our next stop, Mr. Captain?" Katie asked.

Harry glared at her and huffed: "Enough with the Captain snipes, Bell. I was thinking we could stop by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and see how they're doing."

"Onward, then!" Katie cried, grabbing Harry's arm as he spun.

As soon as they landed, they opened the door to the joke shop, instantly greeted by the sight of many familiar products that had terrorised many-a-Gryffindor during their testing stages.

"Well, well, well, what's this? Ickle Harry Potter has himself a girlfriend in Katie Bell" a familiar voice asked.

They spun to see George Weasley standing there and rapidly noticing that Katie was still holding on to Harry's arm. They separated just as quickly.

"Ah, the seeds of you romance," George sighed, tapping his nose with a finger. "Now that I'm married, I can see the signs from miles away. I was ecstatic to find out the two of you and Ronniekins made the Dragons, but I'm afraid that I'll have to be cheering for my wife and the Harpies when the game starts."

He had now slung an arm around each of their shoulders.

"So! What can I get you two? Harry, you know your benefactor's discount is 100 % and the same applies for his, ah, 'just friends'," he said, making air quotes at the end. "The newest rage is our newest product, the Tree Moss Tarts! Slip this to someone, their hair; wherever they might have some, turns to, you guessed it, tree moss!"

Harry did a double take as he had unquestioningly taken the aforementioned sweet. The other two roared with laughter as his jet-black hair lightened to a sickly green and took on the texture of moss. His eyebrows soon followed and his stubble show took on a green tint.

Harry gritted his teeth: "How long does it last?"

George hooted with laughter: "It can go on forever unless you get it magically fixed oooooor take a De-moss Drop."

With that, he handed Harry what looked like a lime drop, which he took obligingly, and his hair returned to normal.

"I thought you didn't test products on me!" Harry said.

A sheaf of paper suddenly appeared in George's hand, which he rapidly sifted through.

"Nowhere in the contract does it say that, though Fred and I simply didn't dare before. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see how well your hair would match your eyes!"

He and Katie once again laughed, and Harry snatched the contract, as well as a quill and furiously scribbled at the end that no products were to be used on him.

Suddenly, ink squirted in his face, with the words he had just written inked on his forehead.

"Whoops! Looks like you picked up one of the Rebound Quills! Sorry, we _do_ need to find a way to differentiate. Poor Verity had the same happen when she tried to fill out an order form the other day!"

He grabbed a cloth and wiped Harry's unimpressed face of the ink, as Katie was doubled over with laughter.

She suddenly sat down on a chair, which decided to eject her some ten feet in the air, until she slowed her descent and touched down lightly.

"Ejector seats!" George roared, this time Harry joining in on his glee.

"Put me in an order for one of those!" Harry hooted. "Might be a riot to put in the other team's dressing room!"

Still giggling with laughter, George filled out a form, only to realize he had used the Rebound Quill. He found the proper quill and again filled out the form, handing it to Harry and muttering about the delivery date.

Harry and Katie exited the shop and apparated to just down the block from Katie's flat, and they walked side by side, hands jammed in their pockets and once again talking about the game against the Harpies.

When they arrived outside of 77 Busby Way, they stopped.

"So, these 'overjoyed celebrations' you speak of... what do you mean?" Harry said, whipping out the napkin on which he had written the 'phases' to the plan to consult it.

"I don't know, hugging, maybe I tackle you off your broom at the end," Katie said non-commitedly.

"Okay, I'll be sure to be at a low altitude," Harry joked, leaning forward and embracing her in a hug.

"Harry, why did you agree to this so easily?" Katie asked.

Harry thought it over and shrugged: "Sometimes I surprise even myself."

"Goodnight, Harry."

"'Night, Katie."

***And there you go! Next chapter's going to be the game (because a day of Harry slothing would be a waste of your time), so I should get that up relatively soon! Anyways, keep the reviews up, let me know how I'm doing, and keep on reading! :D***


	3. Chapter 3

***DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated to it! Everything in this fanfic is inspired by the characters and events of the original books! Sorry this took so long to update, things got quite busy on my end!***

"Alright, first game of the season, let's make it count. We're up against last year's champions, so everyone is expecting the Harpies to win, so it's up to us to prove the critics wrong. Now, let's get out there and get us a win!"

Simon's speech pumped the team up and they snatched up their brooms and made their way into the tunnel, getting a small view of the Everlast Stadium crowd, a full capacity turn-out, with a sea of red dominating the stands they could see from in the tunnel. The Harpies soon sidled up and the opposing players shook hands with their counterparts.

Gwenog Jones stood beside Harry, sporting the Harpies' sky blue away robes. She was about a head shorter than Harry, but a lot more muscular from years of conditioning for Quidditch. In their hands, they carried miniature little club banners which they would exchange before the start of the match. As they waited to leave the tunnel, Harry heard the crowd roaring out Dragon chants, occasionally one here and there being about the new players. Harry smiled as he heard chants of 'we got Potter' or 'we got the Boy Who Lived, and you didn't!'

Both teams mounted their brooms around the starting circle, taking off and hovering at the referee's request. The crate containing the Quidditch set was brought out and the Snitch and Bludgers were released, followed closely by the Quaffle.

Harry vaguely saw his team win the Quaffle out of the corner of his eye as he began scanning for the Snitch. His eyes narrowed as he saw the shock of red hair that belonged to the opposition Seeker. Ginny. He hadn't heard about her joining the Harpies and hadn't noticed her until this pint. He grinned darkly. This was going to make the chase for the Snitch even better.

He recognized the commentator's voice as Lee Jordan's, but was too focused to discern his words over the cheers and groans of the crowd that accompanied the play below. He chanced a quick glance down and was treated to the sight of a Dragons goal, courtesy of Katie. She had tossed the Quaffle up a few feet before dismounting and smashing the Quaffle in the opposite hoop with her broom before re-mounting in mid-air.

Harry clapped momentarily until he saw a tiny glint of gold circling the Harpies goalposts. He took off at full throttle, wanting to get as much of a head start on Ginny as possible. For the most part, he weaved in and out of the obstructing players, whistling by at a speed that had his hair flying back and his eyes squinting and jaw clenched. He saw a bludger hurtling his way, sent by none other than Gwenog Jones. Years of Quidditch instinct took over and he did a sloth grip roll to avoid the bludger, which was promptly smashed back at Jones by Logan Anderson. Harry winced as he heard the sickening crunch/thud that meant Logan had hit his target. Whether Jones was out of the game for good, Harry didn't wait around to find out.

He pulled up sharply, scanning around for the elusive Snitch, but in vain, as it had escaped when he lost his focus during the roll. He chanced a glance up at the score board to see DRAGONS 150, HARPIES 90. Harry started as he realized how much time had gone by. Maybe this really was what he was meant to do.

He was brought back to reality via a body check from Ginny. Harry grimaced and flew away, only to see Ginny closely following. He figured out her game and quickly thought up a solution to it. He ascended to his scouting spot and spent several minutes jockeying with Ginny as he scanned around. He called Logan and made a subtle sign with his hand. It was a routine they had worked out secretly. Harry calmly flew over to him, closely followed by Ginny. He ducked suddenly as Logan smashed a bludger their way. Harry once again dodged it, but so did Ginny, only for Harry to dart off quickly. She caught up with him as he manoeuvred into a determined dive, hurtling towards the ground.

There were gasps from the crowd as they noticed this development. The other players also stopped as they saw this breakneck pursuit for the Snitch. Harry pulled up sharply at the last minute, hearing Ginny crash and deftly dodging a flying piece of her now-shattered broom. Harry knew it took a lot to break a broom, so he knew that Ginny wasn't going to be in much better shape.

"Oh! And it's a Wronski Feint, perfectly employed by Harry Potter!" Lee cried, as the majority of the crowd roared its approval. Harry raised his arm to acknowledge their appreciation and set off after the Snitch in relative peace.

He was once more circling above the pitch, keeping his head on a swivel. He finally saw the Snitch, circling around Katie's head. Knowing it might disappear for another while, if not caught, Harry once again took off after it.

Shouts of warning arose from the crowd as they saw the destined crash-course. The Snitch suddenly flitted to about a foot above Katie's head and Harry saw his chance. He pushed up off of his footrests with all his might, soaring above Katie just as she scored yet another goal. His right arm extended, he promptly swatted his hand and firmly caught the Snitch. He hurtled down to his hovering broom, only to smash off it and go spinning down the few remaining feet. Pain shot through his whole body as he thudded to the stadium ground. The Snitch feebly rolled out of his grip and he groaned his discomfort. He heard several people land hurriedly and he inhaled sharply as he was brusquely flipped over.

He saw Katie's face hovering above his, concern written all over it.

"Harry! Are you alright? How do you feel?" she exclaimed.

He coughed his laughter and weakly replied: "Like a winner." He motioned towards the snitch hovering around them.

Her concern melted away and was replaced by relief and glee. He heard cameras go off as she crushed him in a hug. When he groaned, she pulled away, once again concerned. She then smiled lightly and leaned down, capturing his lips in hers. The cameras were going nuts now, wanting to capture this moment properly for an exclusive.

Katie broke the contact and backed off as the healers put him on a stretcher and brought him away for treatment. He was soon in the hospital, being told to down an assortment of potions until the room emptied of all the healers. He slept for a bit before a healer informed him he had visitors. Seven figures were ushered in: Simon and the team.

"So... never going to try _that_ again," Harry joked.

They all laughed and approached, all asking how he was. He noticed Katie take the bedside seat and slip her hand in his.

"I'm alright. It hurts all over and those healing potions are rank, but I'll survive," he said, then turned to Simon. "I'll be out tomorrow morning."

The manager nodded: "Take tomorrow off, you _all_ earned it."

They all cheered.

"What was the final score?" Harry asked.

"430-180, for us," Katie replied.

Harry sat up and whooped, pumping his fist in delight, only to collapse back into the mass of pillows.

"Okay, bad idea," he grunted.

Ron and Katie stayed behind while the others took off. They sat there in silence for several minutes until Ron motioned to their still-joined hands.

"So, erm, are you two, er-?" Ron ventured awkwardly.

"Together?" Harry cut in, also inspecting his and Katie's hands. "Yeah, I guess."

Ron nodded slowly: "Um, right. Er, I'll leave you two alone. Get well soon, mate."

And with that, he left. Harry raised his eyebrows at Katie.

"What?" Katie asked.

"Somebody's laying it on a little thickly," he teased, relinquishing his grip on her hand. "That was some kiss."

"Yeah, well, the cameras were there, I had to make it count."

"Sure, _I_ think it's just that you were revelling in the fact that you were kissing _the_ Harry Potter."

She scoffed jokingly: "You seemed just as enthusiastic about locking lips with _the_ Katie Bell."

He inhaled uncertainly: "Yeah, not as impressive-sounding, sorry."

She swatted his arm: "Don't make me put you in Long Term Injuries, Potter."

"You wouldn't dare do such a thing to a cute, ickle boy like me, would you, Bell?" he asked innocently.

"Puh-lease, there is _nothing_ cute about you," she replied.

Harry's eyebrows shot up: "You wound me with your cruel words, but the majority of the female wizarding population would beg to differ."

"Alright, name five _physical_ attributes of yours that could be considered desirable," she challenged.

"Now, _that_ would be narcissistic," Harry pointed out. "But nonetheless, I accept the challenge.

"One: my green eyes. Many-a-female has found herself lost in their emerald depths. Two: my wild jet black hair, enough said. Three: my great physical shape. Four: my scar. Five: my nose." He looked up at Katie, who was laughing.

"Okay, the first four, I get. But where did that last one come from?" she giggled.

He sniffed: "I've been told that it's just a nice nose. But anyways, your turn."

"Why don't _you_ tell me, and I'll admit you're cute," Katie countered.

"Alright! One: you have this exotic spice smell that's ever-present that is kind of maddening. Two: you've got perfect lips. Three: you've got a beautiful face. Four: your hair is awesome when it's brown. Five: you've got a body shape that would definitely catch the eye of certain males."

"Did it catch yours?" she asked suddenly, her eyebrows raised.

Harry cleared his throat and glanced at his watch.

"Wow! Look at the time! I'm exhausted! I'll see you around!"

Katie frowned slightly as she left, leaving Harry to breathe out a massive sigh of relief.

***I'll make sure to update with the next chapter ASAP! Happy reading!***


	4. Chapter 4

***Yeesh! It's been awhile! I needed to take a step back from writing to make sure writer's block didn't rear its ugly head once again... So I promise I will make an effort to churn out a couple more chapters in the near future... If I don't, then feel free to inbox me to nag. I guess now that that's out of the way, it's time for a DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or anything to do with its characters and such!***

Harry lounged around the following day after having been released. He spent the entire morning sprawled across the armrests of one of the chairs in the kitchen, staring blankly at the kitchen ceiling, before sliding into a sitting position and welcoming the stacked plate of pasta that Kreacher had made him. He seemingly inhaled the pasta and proceeded to walk aimlessly around the house, barefoot and still sporting his baggy pyjamas (courtesy of the Dursleys), stopping occasionally to lean his head against the wall for awhile. He tuned out everything that happened around him as he spent the greater part of the day contemplating the position he now found himself in with Katie.

"_Five: you've got a body shape that would definitely catch the eye of certain males," he'd said._

"_Did it catch yours?" she asked suddenly, her eyebrows raised._

Truth be told, it had caught his eyes many times over the six years he had known her at Hogwarts. Sure, back then he dismissed it as some boyhood fantasy that he suppressed by simply thinking of her as a sister of some sorts as the bond their Quidditch team shared could only be defined as familial. Harry felt the ghost of a smile tug at his contemplatively blank features. He could see it now: Oliver and Angelina were like the parents, whilst Katie and Alicia were his older sisters and the twins were the clowns of the family that always got in trouble.

Yet here he was, realizing that the way he felt towards Katie were definitely more than some cheap imitation of sibling love, but rather a love that put all of his school-time crushes to utter shame. He could take the plunge and admit his feelings to Katie, but her assertion that despite the lip-lock they'd shared on the pitch, that all this relationship was smoke and mirrors to distract the media and detract any potential glory-hunting members of the opposite gender.

With that last thought, Harry began to wonder why a fake relationship was even needed to serve this purpose. Why make up a whole charade instead of simply saying 'no' to people who approached them with a view to a relationship. After spending over two hours with his head leaning up against the charred hole where Sirius' name should be on the family tree, Harry straightened.

Staring at the charred hole, Harry sighed: "I wish you were here, Padfoot. Heck, I wish my _parents _were here. I'm making a mess of my life. So much is going through my mind at the moment, I can't keep track of it all."

**Somewhere in Manchester...**

Katie was pacing through her flat, passing from room to room and doing a 180 and taking the same route and repeating the process. All the while, she was playing over that moment at the end of hers and Harry's conversation.

_Why did I have to ask that? The way that he scrambled after that just made things awkward! Well done Katie Bell, you've really done a terrific job now!_

She left her flat to go grab a bite to eat at a local restaurant, not even grabbing her coat and not seeming to care about the ever-present downpour that soaked her to the bone after the five minute walk to the restaurant. She could've apparated. She could have flooed. But she simply didn't bother.

Her voice was hollow as she ordered her usual meal from the place. She spent most of the meal pushing around the food with her fork with her left hand jammed into the left side of her face and propped up on the table. After awhile, she asked to have it packed up to take home and soon walked through the rain back to her flat, the falling drops making a rapid drum roll off of the Styrofoam container that held her meal.

Instead of sitting down to finish it, she tucked it away in her fridge, shutting the door with a backwards kick of her foot. She whipped up a mug of coffee and sat on her couch, occasionally taking a sip whilst never breaking her sight of the now-functional fireplace that even now contained a pleasant fire in it. Her eyes flitted to the pot beside it that was simply brimming with Floo powder, and back to the fireplace.

Many times, she tensed her muscles as if to get up, grab a handful of floo and launch herself away to Number 12, Grimmauld Place; but it wasn't to be. Much as her mind was screaming for her to go and her body raring to go, some unknown force held her in place, simply staring bleakly at the flames as they danced and jumped within the stone walls of the fireplace.

**The next day, Practice...**

As practice progressed, Harry and Katie shot furtive, nervous, longing glances at each other, but still kept their distance throughout the whole gruelling process. They had no real cause to communicate throughout: he was a Seeker, she was a Chaser. They were from two completely different worlds on the pitch.

_Not just on the pitch,_ Harry thought ruefully as he flew through a reflex and focus-demanding obstacle course Simon had set up.

While Harry was _famous_, Katie was _popular_. Harry made a clear distinction between the two. Harry was known and reputed around the school for obvious reasons, whereas Katie was well-liked and had lots of friends because of her personality and not events in her past that shaped everyone's opinion of her.

As Harry was thinking this, he didn't notice the bar that appeared at head level and clothes-lined him and he fell the short distance to the ground, rubbing his forehead ruefully.

He was dazed as Simon hoisted him up by the scruff of his practice robes.

"Pay attention for Merlin's sake Potter! You're supposed to be our best flyer and right now Weasley's flying rings around you!" Simon yelled into Harry's ear as the latter flinched. Simon then turned apologetically to Ron: "No, offence."

The keeper shrugged as the team returned to the drill, leaving the manager and Harry alone.

Simon sighed softly: "Listen, Harry. Is everything alright? If something's going on that's getting you off your game, you can take a week or two off, go somewhere nice and get back into the right state of mind. It would be dangerous towards all of us if you're not completely focused. You could get clobbered by a stray Bludger, or you could let the opposition seeker get the best of you. Either or both simply won't do for us, I'm sorry. And I hope your ears haven't suffered from that rocket there. I just have to make sure everyone gets the impression that you won't be escaping my supposed wrath just because you're the captain. So, do you need some time off?"

Harry thought it over before replying: "I do need some time, but I think it might be a couple of days as opposed to weeks. I should be back and better in time for the Cannons game."

Simon nodded: "Alright, go hit the showers and get out of here. And I mean it, Harry. If you're not 100% focused, mentally, you're going to be on the bench."

Harry showed his recognition of Simon's point, before summoning his broom and stalking off into the change rooms.

He stood under the jet of the shower a few minutes later, simply letting the searing droplets trace their patterns on his skin. He still stood there as the warm water switched to cold. He even stayed beyond the time when his teammates came in for their own showers. He ignored the hubbub among them that alternated with an assessment of the drills they had been assigned today and the gossip about his departure and supposed bust-up with Simon.

He only left when his skin was beginning to wrinkle up, changing into jeans and a plain red t-shirt, packing up his training gear and apparating back to his room in Grimmauld Place.

Kreacher, sensing his master's distracted state of mind, discreetly grabbed his training gear and brought it away for cleaning before returning and depositing a nice, fresh, hot meal in front of Harry, who began absentmindedly poking and prodding at it, occasionally bringing some up to his mouth to eat.

The house elf was even more disturbed by this behaviour and decided to take action, going to the one person he knew could potentially shake his master from this mood which he felt could be detrimental to his health.

"Master Weasley, sir! You must help Master Harry!" Kreacher croaked sonorously, rousing Ron from his slumber.

"Whuzgoinon!" Ron bellowed, before focusing his vision on the house elf standing at the foot of his bed. "Kreacher, what are you doing here?"

"You must help Master Harry!" Kreacher repeated.

"What's wrong with Harry?"

"He is depressed! Hardly eats, he does. Spends _hours_ just staring blankly at one wall, then finally moves to another room... only to stare at a wall in there for hours."

"Does he sigh every once in a while?" Ron asked suddenly.

"Yes, very wistful sighing if Kreacher must say," the elf replied.

"Harry's realized he's in love with someone he can't be with, despite how much he'd like to. And he realizes this certainty and is letting out all of his angst as a result of it," Ron recited. Then added, as a response to Kreacher's questioning look: "What? He went through it before getting together with Ginny."

"Then what must be done?" Kreacher asked, eager to help his master.

"You go keep Harry from doing anything dangerous, and I'll go see Katie about this," Ron replied, and with that, both of them Apparated to their different destinations.

**Katie's Apartment, Manchester...**

Ron teetered a bit following his landing in Katie's apartment. He had never been, but he knew the address because one of the things of being on the team was knowing where everyone else lived in case one needed to check up on a teammate in case of illness or to wake them when they slept in on the day of a practice. He looked around, cautious so as to avoid any awkward encounters with the former Gryffindor Chaser.

Katie, clad in a hooded sweatshirt and sweat pants whipped around the corner and into the living room, wand held out and a spell half formed when she saw who it was. Her arm plopped down to her side in relief: "Alright, Ron? What are you doing here?"

"I'm not bad, Katie. I came here to talk to you about Harry," he replied somewhat gravely.

Her face instantly saddened and she plopped down on the nearest couch, setting her wand down on the coffee table.

"How is he? I hope nothing I've said or done has upset him," she asked.

"The state he's in now is partly due to you but mostly him," Ron replied, only to see Katie's crestfallen face drop into despair. "Trust me, when I mean that, it's because he's put himself into that state because of... what he thinks of you," Ron said, treading as lightly as possible.

Katie's sad face shifted rapidly into puzzlement: "What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean by that is that Harry's fallen into a pattern of moping that he falls into," Ron paused at the brink of no return, before pressing on: "when he loves a girl, but is deluded into thinking that he can't be with her in any alteration of reality and goes into a state of depression as a result of it. I can base this off of a precedent that involved Ginny in our Sixth Year, and also off of the fact that if anybody knows Harry Potter by this point in time, it's me."

Katie sat in shock for a good minute. Ron was about to break the silence and hopefully shake her out of the shock, when she spoke: "Harry loves me?" she asked Ron.

The redhead nodded.

"And he seems to think that we can't be together?" Katie queried.

"If you're just going to repeat what I said, don't bother," Ron joked, only to earn a glare from her. "From what I gather, he seems to think that your assertion that your 'relationship' was merely a ploy to keep guys away from you and that you were to stay friends, which really bummed him."

"And all this is why he was so unfocused at practice today?" she demanded.

Ron nodded again.

Katie groaned: "Ugh! I messed things up! The whole _point_ of the fake relationship was so that I could get close to Harry and all it's done is push him away!" she swung her foot back, poised to give the coffee table a swift upending kick, but thought better of it.

"Wait!" Ron interjected, frowning. "So, you like Harry?"

Katie nodded: "Ever since my seventh year. I mean, that's when I _noticed_ my feelings, but I'm sure that they had budded a few years prior, I'm not sure when. When he began talking to me a lot more than he would've with Quidditch and the DA, I was suddenly aware of the butterflies I got when he had asked about how I was once I got back from St. Mungo's and asked me what I knew about the attack. I know in the end, he was trying to find out who the insider for You-Know-Who was, but for that short amount of time, it really seemed as if he had taken it upon himself to catch my attacker."

Ron had to suppress the massive, childish grin that was threatening to break surface and betray his thoughts. _This is turning out better than I had expected, _he thought giddily.

"So, that being said, isn't there somewhere you should be?" Ron asked, with an eyebrow raised.

Katie's eyes widened as she snatched up her wand, preparing to Apparate, then stopped.

"He's at Grimmauld Place, right?" she asked, and Ron nodded. She once again went to Apparate, then again stopped herself, this time running up to Ron and giving him a kiss on the cheek, before finally Apparating out.

Ron sat around for a bit, grinning at his repair work, before jumping up and realizing how awkward it was to be lounging around someone else's apartment. He was extremely tempted to Apparate to Grimmauld Place and capture the (hopefully) magical moment, but he realized how perverse that seemed, and decided to ask Harry about it next time they met up.

***There you go, Chapter 4! I'm sososososososoooooo sorry about the delay on this! I had kind of left it hanging, half done and forgotten about it with a new school year starting up and have been keeping busy with that, but finally found a moment to finish this. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to churn out Chapter 5 soon, so as to not keep you guys hanging too much on this cliff hanger (sorry, can't help it, cliff hangers are an addiction :P)... Anyways, keep the reading and subscriptions up and PLEASE comment so as to let me know how I'm doing on this! Thanks guys so much for bearing with me and for the support! :D***


	5. Chapter 5

***DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, its characters, the world, or anything Potter-related.***

Harry was sitting at the dining room table in Number 12 Grimmauld Place when a loud _crack_ cut the silence in the room. He jumped at the sound and spun towards the source and saw a rather nervous looking Katie standing there.

"Hi Harry," she said timidly, biting her lower lip.

"Hi," he replied, somewhat in shock, somewhat in awe.

"Can we talk?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in concern.

"Er, sure," he shot back uncertainly, motioning to the array of empty seats around the table. She went around to the one directly opposite him. He turned to face her and added: "What about?"

She puffed out her cheeks, "About, well, everything."

"A bit broad of a topic to cover, don't you think?" Harry joked, if ever so soberly.

"I meant everything between us," she said in joking vehemence.

"Oh," he stated simply.

"Harry, I know the whole 'fake-dating' to keep from attracting bad relationships idea was weird and awkward, but it was the very thing we'd wanted to avoid. That was because of the whole 'fake aspect of things," she recited, checking to see if Harry was following. He nodded his understanding before she took the plunge into no-return: "You see, Harry, the reason I had made such a 'solution' was because I have... _feelings_ for you, and I thought that in spending one-on-one time with you as a fake girlfriend, you'd begin to like me and then the relationship would go legit."

As she finished, she looked up uncertainly into his face, trying to read what was going on behind his mask of shock. She wondered what was going through his mind, how the gears and cogs were turning and processing and reacting. How she longed to know what went through the mind of the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, or according to her "The Boy Who Stole My Heart" and "My Chosen One", judging from the number of times she had traced those words into pieces of paper or parchment that were kicking around her apartment.

"Harry?" she asked timidly, hoping to break him out of his stunned state.

He shook himself, frowning as he looked at Katie and composed himself.

"Katie, I'll admit, the whole 'let's be a fake couple' idea was really far-fetched and all, and really took me aback, as I only knew you from what I based off of Quidditch at Hogwarts, and that wasn't all that much. The next while I spent hanging out with you, I got to know the _real_ Katie Bell, the one that no-one else sees. This Katie was a blast to hang out with; she was smart, hilarious, easy to talk to, and I couldn't help but slowly develop a caring for her. From that point on, I always took every chance to sneak a glance during a practice, and I always tried to see you in your element during the game. My heart fluttered every time you laughed, it would skip every time you smiled at me. Simply being around you made me feel the best I've ever felt in a _long_ time. Then, it came. The kiss. During that moment of lip-locked bliss, my whole spirit soared. It was the greatest sensation ever. When you visited me in the hospital, everything I said was genuine, I meant it all. You kind of caught me off-guard with the question about if your body shape had caught my eye. To answer that, it did. But what caught my eye more was not anything physical, it's your personality, the way you acted, the way that you laughed, the way that you understood me better than anyone ever has. After that, I thought that I was trying to take things too fast. That was a reality check, and soon enough, I started telling myself that there was no way that I had a chance with you. You're a league apart, Katie, how could I have a chance. Then, it was just me moping around here with Kreacher."

It was his turn to look expectantly at her. She was smiling, with tears moistening her eyes.

"Harry," she said, her voice thick with the suppression of her tears. "You're right about me being a league apart, but that's because you're Harry Potter. You've got your own league way up there. You're the most amazing guy I know and yet you're not cocky, you're kind, modest. It's hard _not_ to fall in love with you, and I've gone and done just that."

With that, she leaned across the table and kissed Harry. Their other kiss on the pitch was nothing compared to this. This kiss was a blend of passion, tenderness and genuine love. There was also an undercurrent of relief in it as well, as both of them let out the anxiety that haunted both of them the moment they realized their feelings.

They broke apart after a while, their eyes fluttering open and holding each others' eye contact. Their hands snaked across the table and found its counterpart. They let out a pent-up laugh of relief.

"So, where to now?" Katie asked, walking around to Harry's side and taking his offered hand in hers.

Harry simply winked at her and spun on the spot. When they straightened up, Katie saw they were outside Everlast Stadium. Of course, it had anti-Muggle wards up, so they simply thought it to be some historical landmark abandoned building. The two of them stood at the street corner across from the colossal stadium, craning their necks to look at it. To either side of the gates, there hung massive banners that depicted each player. Katie and Harry's were either side of the entrance. Being magical, these banners' occupants were moving and Katie giggled as Banner Harry straightened up and puffed out his chest, winking at the real Katie, whilst Harry was blushing as Katie's larger than life counterpart blew him a kiss.

They went in and walked around the pitch, before grabbing a Quaffle and throwing it in between themselves for a while.

"Don't you find this feels surreal?" Harry asked, catching and returning the Quaffle.

"What, us or the whole Quidditch thing?" she shot back.

"Both, I guess," he replied.

Katie stopped to think a moment, spinning the Quaffle in her hands while she thought.

"Yeah, come to think of it," Katie admitted, resuming the tossing. "Never would I have imagined a bewitched banner of me fluttering tall and proud outside of _any_ stadium, much less Everlast. And well, being with you is obviously beyond my wildest dreams. How about you?"

"Stole the words right out of my mouth," Harry chuckled, catching the Quaffle and motioning for them to leave.

Once they'd dropped it off where they kept all the spare equipment stored, they apparated to Busby Way, walking down the street and into a relatively empty cafe. The owner came up to them.

"Hello there, Katie! Nice to see you again! Who's this you've brought with you?" the old lady asked sweetly, now acquainted with Katie, with her being a regular.

"This is Harry, my boyfriend," she stated, making a slight motion to their clasped hands.

"Riiiight," the owner said in recognition. "So _this_ is the Harry Potter that Katie's told me all about! Let me bring you some coffee!"

Soon enough they were sipping away at their coffees and simply enjoying each other's company (the owner had the tact to keep her distance).

"You're coming back to practice tomorrow, right?" Katie asked him after a while.

He nodded: "Simon did give me a while off, but I'll cut it short, because I'm back in the zone."

"Does this sudden re-concentration have anything to do with me?" she asked jokingly.

"Kates, it has _everything_ to do with you."

***Don't know why this took me so long! Thank you so much everyone for all the subscriptions and the replies and support! I think I may keep this going, most likely past the 10 chapter mark, because there's Quidditch season stuff as well as some future stuff, so I'd say maybe 6 or more chapters still in me for this! I realize that many of you have said to keep this going, as there is a lack of long, completed, satisfying Katie/Harry stuff, so I'm going to do my best to keep things up and keep writing my best, all for you guys, because the support you've shown has been immensely inspiring in terms of my writing! Again, to anyone who wants to do any collabs for Harry Potter or indeed any story category I've listed on my profile, feel free to Inbox me and we can get cracking at it!***


	6. Chapter 6

***Oh, hello there! That's right, I'm alive! XD Back from this weird place called reality. All joking aside, I feel like I owe each and every one of you the most profound and sincere apologies I can muster for how long it's taken me to get my act together to chug along on this fic! :( You guys have all been nothing but fantastic with your reviews and the follows, and for that, I can't begin to thank you guys! So, now that I actually have some breathing room, I am committing myself to deliver you this fic. And not just 'Oh, I'll just tie this up in a half-ass fashion for a sense of closure', nuh-uh! Not this guy, I am committing to delivering you quality writing start to finish, and that's exactly what I intend to deliver! And seeing as it's the festive season, my peace offering/Christmas present is not one, but TWO chapters tonight to get this story's resurrection underway! As always, I own nothing, and be sure to comment to let me know how I'm going/scold me for being so late with this! PS: My author's note at the end of the chapter contains a little extra present for you all! ;) Enjoy!* **

Harry and Katie walked into the stadium for practice the next day, hand in hand and beaming ear to ear. Simon frowned and walked over.

"Potter? What's the meaning of this? I thought I told you to take some time off," he grumbled, somewhat under his breath.

"I was just having an off-day yesterday, boss. But I'm back for good," Harry said assertively.

"Alright," Simon replied apprehensively. "But one sign that you're not on your game and you won't have any say in a two week break!"

They took off and set about their drills for the day, Harry executing them with a ruthlessness none of them had seen. He zoomed through the obstacle course at an unheard-of speed flawlessly. Caught the Snitch in second-to-none time and was even in fine form in front of the goalposts when shooting practice came around, beating Ron, who had not let in any shots up until that point.

When practice ended, Simon looked at Harry and said: "Okay, Potter that was just an off-day. You're back in the picture."

When practice ended, Harry went and changed into civilian clothes once again. He packed his things and called Kreacher to bring them back to Grimmauld Place. He left the change room and grinned widely as he saw Katie waiting outside for him. Their hands found each other's by some kind of magnetic force.

"So, where are we off to this evening?" he asked as they walked away from Everlast Stadium, swinging their linked hands.

"I thought we could catch a film at the cinema!" Katie suggested.

"Isn't that the most cliché way to spend a date?"

"Sure it's cliché, but it works!" Katie laughed.

They apparated to the alleyway behind the cinema, walking around front, grabbing tickets to a film and walking in to take their seats towards the back of the screening room. Once the film started, they noticed that they were the only ones in the audience and Katie relaxed into Harry and they spent the duration of the movie with their hands linked and Katie leaning into Harry, her head resting on his chest.

Once the film had ended, they apparated back to Grimmauld place, sitting across the table from each other in the kitchen, as Kreacher brought them butterbeers to drink.

"You worried about the game the day after tomorrow?" Katie asked, looking up into Harry's eyes after they'd finished their critique of the film.

"Against the Liverpool Phoenixes?" he replied.

Katie nodded. "Yeah, our biggest domestic fixture aside from a few of the London clubs, as well as the derby against the Pixies."

Harry snorted at the mention of the 'other' Manchester team. Several decades ago, it'd been the second string from the Dragons that decided to quit and form their own club, what is now known as the Manchester Pixies. The jealousy that those players harboured towards the first string of the Dragons as well as the close proximity of the two clubs was an excellent catalyst for what is one of the most vibrant matches in the league's fixture list.

"We're travelling to Liverpool and we haven't gotten a win there in eighteen years," Harry recited. "Not exactly the most welcoming atmosphere, either."

This particular rivalry was simply bred out of competitive nature as the two most domestically successful clubs in England shared a few particularly nasty encounters and feelings between the two sets of teams and their supporters just got dragged further and further down the path to absolute hatred.

"I'm sure we'll survive. As long as you get us the Snitch, we'll be doing our best to either be winning or be close enough that catching the Snitch would win it for us."

"Have you seen the Prophet's sports section? A whole page dedicated to a picture of myself and that dolt _Sergio_ face to face with the caption '_Sergio: He Won't Be The Boy Who Lived For Long!'_ He's been prancing around making it seems as if I'm already in his pocket and that I'll be the first and most brutal casualty of the inevitable bloodbath this game is going to be."

"To be honest, I am a little worried. He's not got the typical small and wiry build of a Seeker. He's built more like a Slytherin beater, seems to be about half-troll. Whatever that other half of him is, it sure makes up for his less aerodynamic form."

That thought sobered Harry up a bit. He was about to go to grips with some gargantuan with extraordinary agility, dexterity, and reflexes. Those qualities sure ruled out any hopes of him just simply out-maneuvering or out-flying him.

"_But_," Katie said, emphasizing the presence of a catch. "The fact that he's even gone this public and blatant means he's trying to unsettle you. It means he's not entirely sure about this. He's got some doubt in his own ability. So, he's trying to bring you down to convince you that you have no chance, which makes his job infinitely easier for him."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm _saying,_" Katie said, taking his hand. "Make him _think_ he's won this mental battle, then take him by surprise."

Realization dawned on Harry's face, which turned into a fully-fledged grin.

"Cheeky!" Harry exclaimed.

Katie shrugged her shoulders dismissively.

Harry plopped back in his seat, shaking his head ruefully.

"My girlfriend's an evil genius," he stated, absentmindedly.

"And you're my partner in crime," she replied without missing a beat, leaning over and capturing his lips in hers.

"Lucky me," Harry smiled.

It was the day of the big 'grudge match', as the pundits of the wizarding world were billing it. The Manchester Dragons were to be pitted in their second match of the season against the Liverpool Phoenixes, a match to be played out in an undoubtedly rocking atmosphere in the Phoenixes' Wandsmark Arena.

Harry and his teammates were sitting around the visiting team dressing room, fully equipped and sporting the Dragons' black and gold away kits. Simon walked into the room to deliver his pre-match speech.

"Alright, team. Second game of the season. We played an incredible match last time out against the Harpies, now it's time for _the_ most anticipated fixture of the season, apart from them coming down to play us at the Everlast, that is. Now, the Phoenixes like to use a mixture of youth and experience; young talents backed up by the level-headed guidance of the older players. This match gets feisty, I'm sure you don't need telling. There'll be 100% more cheap-shots, broom pulls, insults, slurs than most of you might be used to. All's I can say is: keep a cool head, don't let it get to you. They're just trying to wind you up. Last thing we need is for some lapse in judgement to get one of you suspended. We've got our opening game of the European Quidditch Cup coming up in about a week, so we'd rather not have our best players unavailable for that. Other than that, go out there and play like the team I know you are!"

"Alright, everyone! Let's go win this!" Harry shouted, pumping up the team, his rallying cry met by cheers from his teammates.

They exited the change room and walked the dimly-lit corridor that led to the tunnel. They lined up, with Harry at the front as captain, and Ron behind him, followed by Katie. Not long after, the Phoenixes lined up on the other side of the tunnel, neither set of players acknowledging each other yet.

The doors to the tunnel opened and everyone's eyes adjusted to the brilliance of the floodlights as the players walked out onto the pristine pitch. The teams lined up along the halfway line, the referees standing in between them. After the short playing of the league anthem, Harry led the Dragons along the line to shake hands first with the referees, then with the Phoenixes.

Each handshake with a Phoenix was a crunching one, but completely expected by Harry, who'd steeled his hand for the experience and responded in kind with each one.

Once both sets of players shook hands, the referee relayed his desire for a clean game, as if saying it would avoid the inevitable dirty tricks and hits the match promised. All the players took to the air, and then the referee launched the Quaffle, bludgers, and the Golden Snitch, which promptly disappeared. As Harry took up a scouting position, he found himself jostled almost immediately by Sergio, the Liverpool seeker.

"_Hola_, Mr. Potter," the South American drawled, his voice dripping with self-assurance. "Are you ready to meet your doom?"

"You know what, Sergio?" Harry replied, feigning severe irritation. "I don't need to hear it. I've had a rough week, just _piss off_."

"Ah, I see. How trying is the life of a troubled Quidditch player," Sergio said dramatically.

"_Shut. Up_," Harry growled, only making Sergio grin wider.

"If you insist. I have a feeling you and I are going to amuse ourselves quite a bit!" he said, before flying towards his own scouting position.

Harry glanced down at the scoreboard, which displayed _Liverpool 140- Manchester 30_. Harry gritted his teeth. Things were not going well at all. Just as he thought that, the Phoenixes netted another 10 points, making it 150-30. Harry glanced around, seeing no sign of the Snitch. Harry flew slowly down to converse with Anderson, who was also marauding around, waiting for an opening to send a bludger at an opponent.

"Logan!" Harry barked as he approached, earning the beater's attention.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Manoeuver 7," Harry said simply, before subtly motioning towards Sergio.

A wicked grin spread on the beater's face as he instantly comprehended Harry's plan for the egotistical Liverpool Seeker.

"Gotcha."

With that, Harry flew back up to his scouting position, seeing Logan fly up slightly below his and Sergio's altitude and in Harry's line of sight. After about a minute, with the score now at 150-80, due to a current spell of dominance from Katie and the Manchester chasers, Harry shifted his gaze to catch Logan's eye, before quirking his eyebrow subtly. Logan nodded his understanding as Harry began to put their plan to execution.

Harry started as if spotting the Snitch and began making a beeline for the Liverpool goalposts, assuming correctly that Sergio was hot on his tail. His diversion took them on a bobbing and weaving pattern through the posts and even once through one of the hoops, when suddenly, Logan smashed a Bludger that ricocheted off one of the goalposts and connected with Sergio, sending the Seeker tumbling off his broom, certainly unavailable to finish the game. With cheers of Dragon supporters and jeers from the Phoenix supporters providing the soundtrack for the fallout of that incident, Harry flew over to Logan and high-fived him after the flawless execution of their manoeuver, something they themselves had come up with in training, and this being the first time they ever tried it out.

This seemed to galvanize the Dragons chasers even further, as they proceeded to net another five goals in the following 10 minutes, before Harry legitimately caught sight of the Golden Snitch, and heading off in its pursuit, having to cross the current flow of play. Seeing his intentions, and knowing it wasn't a diversion, a Phoenix chaser manoeuvered into Harry's path, only for Harry to skirt around the player. His manoeuver, however, earned him an elbow to the face from the offending opponent. Knowing that he might not get another legitimate opportunity to catch the Snitch for some time in the game, Harry ignored the blood flowing freely from his nose as he pelted towards the Snitch, catching up and making an easy catch to end the game, gifting the Dragons a 280-150 win over the Phoenixes, the Dragons' first in eighteen years.

Harry landed as the press swarmed the pitch. Over the din of the crowd's mixed reactions, Harry heard arguing.

"-Come on, ref! How did you _not_ see that blatant elbow right there?!" Katie demanded shrilly, as Ron and a few other Dragons held her back from the Chaser who'd elbowed Harry.

Harry strode over, his broom taken from his by one of the Dragons staff, the Snitch still clutched in his left hand. He approached the Chaser from the Phoenixes.

"Hey, good game. No harm, no foul?" Harry said, shocking more than a few by his calm demeanour.

"Yeah, I guess," the player said, a little shocked himself.

Harry offered his hand, which was hesitantly shaken by the player, before Harry walked over to a now-calm Katie and hugged her.

"Thanks for standing up for me, luv, but I'm taking the high road on this. Infinitely more infuriating for them," Harry whispered in her ear.

It took Katie a second before she realized what her captain was getting at.

"My boyfriend's an evil genius," she said in shocked admiration, paraphrasing Harry's comment from the other day.

"Well, we are partners in crime, after all, so I have to match your level of evil," Harry replied, winking at her cheekily.

"Lucky me," Katie said, grinning widely, the smile lighting up her face.

Harry leaned in for a kiss.

"No you don't, lover boy!" Katie exclaimed. "I love you, Harry, but not enough for a blood-soaked kiss!"

Harry laughed, and settled for slinging his arm around the shoulders of his girlfriend, the absolute angel he'd fallen in love with.

***Well, there you have it! The first of two promised peace offering chapters! It's getting quite late, so I'm going to leave the other chapter for tomorrow! :) I do promise that that will, in fact, happen and I'm going to ensure it's not a poopy 'filler' chapter! I do owe you guys more than that! ;) Anyways, before I sign off, I did say I have a little present for all of you, and that would be that between now and the New Year, so at this time of writing, you have until December 31****st****, 2013, to PM me a scenario you'd like to see happen at some point in the fic! I personally can't wait to see what awesome and potentially wacky stuff you guys come up with, and can't wait to implement them! :) Anyhow, that's enough from me, keep it awesome, peeps!***


	7. Chapter 7

***Hey all! Soooo sorry about the delay! The past few days have been hectic and I've been working some long days at work, what with it being your typical retail Christmas, so it's only now that I get to hammer out this chapter for you guys! Gotta say, I didn't find out about this whole 'story traffic' thing until after I posted Chapter 6, and I gotta say, it is MIND-BLOWING how many people have visited the story! I have to say that I'm so incredibly humbled that people are reading my story! It's only stoking the fire that I want to do something to do with writing in the future, even if it is just a little pet project. I have to say that writing fan fiction, as nerdy as it can be (which I'm totally fine with :P) has helped me grow a lot as a writer, and gain a bit more confidence with my writing and to keep the creative juices flowing, so to speak. Anyways, shout out to any and all of you who have reviewed/favourited (I'm Canadian, get over it :P)/followed the story, you guys keep me going here, so I cannot begin to thank all of you enough! Without further ado, on with the formalities: I still don't own Harry Potter last time I checked. Otherwise, I'd be rich. That's my disclaimer. Yeah. ON WITH THE STORY!***

Just as the cheering and songs began in the Dragon's change room in celebration of the massive win, Simon walked into the doors and froze at the raucous behaviour of his players. He shouted and whistled to get their attention.

"Hey! I need your attention!" he shouted. The celebrations died down until all that could be heard was the still-laboured breathing of the players, partly due to the exhaustion of the game but also that of the celebrations as well.

"I want you all to know that I'm gonna give you all tomorrow off, once again in consideration of the massive win!" Simon declared, which elicited a roar of approval from the players, who once again quieted down at a conductor-like gesture from Simon.

"That being said, all the singing and cheering… That's a poor way to celebrate," Simon said, shaking his head in disappointment, sobering the mood of the group at their misconduct.

"WHICH IS WHY I'VE ORDERED BOTTLES OF CHAMPAGNE! SIMON SAYS PARTY ON!" Simon roared, earning the group's biggest cheer yet as the aforementioned bottles of champagne entered the room, levitated in by house elves. Ron and a few of the others grabbed bottles, shook them up, and began to spray them over the group once the bottles had been uncorked.

Harry and Katie ducked away from the majority of the spray.

"Why are we celebrating like this?" Harry queried. "Usually you'd leave celebrations like this for winning a cup or the league."

"Well, eighteen years since we've beaten them here, and considering the miserable form of the Dragons last year, a result as colossal as this deserves celebration," Katie replied sagely. "Come on, lighten up, Mr. Serious Captain!" She said the last in a joking impression of Harry.

Harry smirked, knowing full well of the unspoken challenge he saw twinkle in Katie's eyes. She said to lighten up, but he knew full well she was challenging him to, with his reputation firmly on the line.

_Challenge accepted_, Harry thought, as he walked over to his cubby of the change room, standing up on the bench.

"Oi! Listen up!" Harry shouted, quieting down the group. "Celebration's at my place! Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" With that, he jumped down to cheers from his teammates, grabbed his gear and Katie's, linked arms with her, and Apparated.

They landed in the basement kitchen, laughing a bit as they arrived.

"Master Harry!" Kreacher cried, delighting at the arrival of his master. "Oh, and Miss Katie as well!" he drooped down into a low bow.

"Good to see you Kreacher! I'm afraid, though, I have a tall order for you! I'm hosting the team's celebration party here after our win over the Phoenixes!" Harry explained, as he crouched down to eye level with the house elf, placing a hand on Kreacher's shoulder.

Kreacher looked at Harry as he said this, and his eyes lit up.

"Oh joy!" Kreacher enthused. "The Master is having company! The more the merrier!"

The old elf bounded away giddily, ready to prepare his best dishes, and plenty of it.

"What's gotten into him? From what I've heard from you and Ron, he's never this happy, or even happy at all, if Ron's reports are to be believed," Katie said, highly skeptical in this change of behaviour for Kreacher.

"Kreacher's a house elf. Much as Hermione would object, they're conditioned to be in their best state of mind when cooking or cleaning. That's all they've really known in life, it's an anchor of sorts for them. I wouldn't want to put Kreacher through that, but he's too stubborn to leave now I've gotten on his good side. Plus, it'd wreck him to be thrown out of the house, maybe both figuratively and literally," Harry supplied, chuckling a bit at his attempt at humour.

Katie rolled her eyes and decided to grab her Quidditch bag and get changed out of her champagne-soaked Quidditch equipment, Apparating out of the kitchen with the habitual _crack_ sound. She was back about five minutes later, sporting jeans, a white tanktop, and a wide neck sweater, which left one of her shoulders exposed, and all topped off with a beanie. In the time she'd been gone, Harry had rushed up to his room and thrown on some black jeans and a white v-neck t-shirt. Just as he'd gotten back down to the kitchen, Katie had come back and taken a seat at the table.

"Wow, Katie, you look great!" Harry said, upon beholding his teammate and girlfriend.

"Just great?" she challenged, an eyebrow quirked.

_Oh crap_, Harry thought in panic. _I've done it now_.

"By great I mean you look amazing! Absolutely stunning!" Harry said, backpedaling quickly, his cheeks feeling searing hot as they were deeply coloured with a blush of embarrassment.

Katie grinned evilly, "Why thank you, Harry, so kind of you to say! By the way, you blush beautifully, dear," she said, topping the statement off with a wink.

Harry uttered a noise halfway between a groan and a whimper, which elicited a string of giggles from Katie, before he proceeded to plop down in the seat opposite her.

"Harry, it's only because I love you that I love to watch you squirm," she said reassuringly.

Harry muttered under his breath, still pouting.

"I'm so Harry, I'm afraid you'll have to speak up a bit, I didn't hear that!" she exclaimed.

"I said that you're evil, and that I'm starting to plot my revenge," he replied, grinning maliciously.

"Ooh, I'm so afraid of what ickle Harry-kins is going to do! What are you gonna do, get Kreacher to sneak cayenne powder into my next meal?"

"No, that's for amateurs. You're forgetting that my father and godfather composed half of the legendary Marauders, and that I also am the benefactor of one of the most popular wizarding joke shops in the whole of Britain."

"Any of the Marauders, I'd be afraid of, heck, I was apprehensive of anything Fred and George were within a metre of! You, though? I'm not afraid of you. You think you could pull off a prank of epic proportions on me, but you can't. You just don't have the knack for evil, nor the imagination to come up with something so elaborate," Katie replied, not sounding convinced.

"We'll see," Harry said, trying his best to sound menacing and mysterious.

Just as he'd said that, a series of _cracks_ could be heard from the foyer, and Katie and Harry rushed up to see who it was, their gazes falling on the comedic tangle of limbs of their teammates, who all began to swear and shout as they all tried to extricate themselves.

Harry and Katie both burst out into hysterics, Harry even falling to the floor clutching his stomach as he continued to laugh.

This sure promised to be an entertaining night.

Harry woke up the next morning to find himself looking at the ceiling of the kitchen, realizing he had slept on his kitchen table. He felt a weight on him and looked down to see Katie snoring lightly with her head rested on his chest and her arm wrapped lazily around him. He lifted his head slightly and looked around the kitchen, seeing his teammates spread out all asleep in various locations of some hilarity. Simon had somehow fallen asleep on top of a cabinet, curled up in the fetal position and sucking on his thumb. If he were startled awake, he'd either hit his head off the ceiling, or fall down to the floor. Ron was passed out on the floor, his form outlined perfectly by Butterbeer bottles.

Harry chuckled as he beheld his team and manager. If he had a camera, he'd be sure to get photographic proof of the compromising situations he'd found them in, more or less for further use for embarrassment/friendly extortion if needed.

Katie began to stir, brought out of her slumber by the rapid rise and fall of Harry's chest as he chuckled, Harry somehow only noticing now that he had no shirt on.

"Wuzgoinon?" Katie slurred.

"Shhh," Harry said, stroking Katie's hair, causing her to lower her head and snuggle into Harry's chest a bit more. "Let's just leave them as be for the moment being."

The next two days were spent practicing and preparing for their season opener for their European campaign. The best way that Harry reasoned to relate the tournament was to the muggle football tournament known as the UEFA Champions League. The tournament had a group stage, as teams from different participating countries were sorted into eight groups of four teams, the top two teams progressing to the knockout stages after each team played each other twice, once home and away.

The Manchester Dragons had been drawn against the Spanish second-place team from last year, _Los Mandragoras_, a Madrid-based side; _Die Hippogreifen_, based out of Leverkusen; and finally _Les Ankous_, a team from the Bordeaux region. They knew that all of these games were going to be tough, no game in this competition was a cake walk, but certain teams would present less of a challenge than others.

With the draw and the scheduling for the tournament that followed the draw soon after, the Dragons found out that they were going to play home first, and then their games would alternate from there. They were hosting the Madrid outfit at the Everlast Stadium on a Wednesday evening. Despite their fairly recent domestic triumphs, the Dragons had yet to have a fruitful European competition since its inception.

Harry and the others were suiting up in the dressing room as Simon delivered his pre-match speech to them.

"This is possibly the most talented Dragons team for quite some time, if not ever! I'm not just making things up here, we're a young team, but the raw talent you possess is going to go a long way. If we can create stability and consistency in our performances in the league as well as in Europe, then we can form a dynasty of domestic, continental and maybe even worldwide dominance. But that's thinking too far ahead. Our heads cannot be in the clouds today. There is only tonight, and that is our focus. We are taking this season one match at a time. Play each minute like it's your last. A good win will start us off nicely for the group. Having a good ratio of points scored to conceded would also do us a world of good. Let's go out there and you all give it your best shot! Let's win this not just for us, but for the fantastic set of fans we have out there, ready to roar us through to glory!"

By the end of the speech, Simon was standing up on a bench, his voice raised into a rallying cry, which was eagerly replied to by Harry and his team. It just went to show how not only as a tactician, but also how good of a motivator and man-manager Simon was. He knew exactly what to say and how to say it to motivate everyone and how to deal with each player on a personal level to keep morale and confidence high. Harry realized in that moment just how brilliant of an appointment Simon was. Not many managers would have had the guts to clear out the old squad and completely remodel the team, not to mention entirely basing his team off of youth, rather than a mixture of youth and experience as almost every other team tended to do.

As the players filed out, Simon stopped Harry by grabbing his arm, Harry spinning to face his manager with a quizzical look on his face, a question already formed on his tongue as Simon spoke.

"You win this for us, Harry. You know how crucial it is for us to keep the streak going. I just want to make sure you know that so you can get a good idea of how you play your game. These Spanish teams really like to use their Seekers as extra Chasers. Try to get our Beaters to take either their Seeker or one of their Chasers out, because I want you to stick to your job."

Harry nodded his understanding and Simon let go of his arm, opting to pat him on the back in encouragement.

The players walked out of the tunnel, shook hands and the game was on quite quickly. The atmosphere around the Everlast Stadium was absolutely electric. The songs and chants from the Dragons fans was at an unprecedented volume as far as what Harry had experienced so far. From his perch, he surveyed the game, studying the patterns in the Spanish team's game to try and find the best way to act on Simon's instructions. Finally identifying a pattern, Harry motioned Anderson over.

"Logan, all of their play is going through number 6. He's their playmaker. You can see him dropping back and basically playing quarterback," Harry explained.

"Playing what?" Logan asked, mystified.

"Muggle reference, never mind. He's dropping low in the field in order to be able to launch a long pass for their attacks. Then he's usually ghosting in for a late pass from the other Chasers so that he can get a relatively unobstructed shot in at either of the hoops."

Logan nodded to confirm he'd now caught on to the _Mandragoras_' plan of attack, now knowing what needed to be done.

With that, Harry zoomed back up to his surveillance point, his head on a swivel for the Snitch. Out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to have caught a gold glint of- _No_, he thought, _looks like I was just too late there_. He berated himself for his lack of action as he'd caught what must have been a fleeting glimpse of the Golden Snitch, only for it to disappear once again. He heard a massive groan from the crowd and turned to see the _Mandragoras _playmaker fall into the sandpit at the foot of the Dragons' goalposts, following a wickedly curved bludger hit from Logan Anderson. The _Mandragoras _Seeker soon flew down to take part in the current attack, returning the Spanish outfit to their full complement of three Chasers.

The game itself was being quite fiercely fought. It was currently 90-70 for the Dragons as they'd just managed to fire in a quick-fire double following the understandable deflating of the team following their playmaker's exit from the game. They had been growing increasingly frustrated, committing a few petty fouls along the way.

_There it is again!_ Harry exclaimed, this time locking onto the trail of the Snitch, bolting off towards it, weaving through the Dragons' current counter-attack and approaching the Snitch. Just as he got to within reach of it, Harry extended his arm tantalizingly closer at full stretch, and snagged the Snitch out of the air.

Just as he'd been reaching, though, he'd heard a shrill cry of warning from Katie: "HARRY, WATCH OUT!" just as a bludger came hurtling his way. Next thing Harry knew, the whole world went black.

***AH! ZE CLIFFHANGER! SO EVIL, YET SOOOOO MUCH FUN! XD Again, my most profound apologies for not having been able to get this chapter out sooner! :( I hope to be able to get the next chapter out within the next week or so. I'm not gonna put an ETA on it, because that seems to not do me any favours! Anyways, thank you so much for reading, once again. Please be sure to review as I post these chapters, should you have any questions, or just to let me know how I'm doing. It motivates me so much more either way to know how I'm doing, and it gives me a better idea for not only this story, but as a writer, what works and what doesn't :) Take it easy, peeps!***


	8. Chapter 8

***Well hello there! As I seem to recall, I left you all with the most maddening of endings to a chapter- A CLIFFHANGER! For that, I apologize, just with the way the chapter was going, I felt it'd be best served if I employed the cliffy. While I'm at it, I must apologize for the tardiness in the updates and the sporadic nature of my updates. Life has been hectic to say the least the past while, what with work, two moves, and everything in between. I'd like to take this chance to thank you all again for your continued support of the story, it means the world to me! Anyways, as per usual, I don't own Harry Potter, and insert generic snarky comment about what would be different about life if I did own Harry Potter. Anyways, ENJOY!***

Harry's eyes fluttered open and he was treated to a view of his infirmary wing. He looked over and saw Katie asleep in an armchair by his bedside, her fist propping her face up. In this moment, no matter how disheveled Katie might look, Harry thought she looked angelic. He adjusted his position in his bed and his head throbbed quite painfully. He inhaled sharply at the pain.

This woke Katie up straight away.

"Harry!" she cried out, making as if to rush over and tackle him, but seemed to think better of her haste, carefully walking over, cradling his head and giving him a soft kiss.

"I've got to stop winding up in these situations, next game might kill me!" Harry joked, only for Katie to frown. "What, Katie?"

"Harry, I'm not sure you realize how serious that could've been. We were lucky there were healers ready to stabilize you. They said a bludger hit like that to the back of the head could've been lethal," Katie replied sternly.

Harry blinked in shock.

"You're lucky to not have sustained any kind of permanent brain damage, Harry. It looks like you're not suffering from any amnesia, so you've dodged the proverbial bullet this time, Harry," she added.

"How long have I been out?"

Katie looked at her watch.

"Close to about 40 hours. The healers said in stabilizing you, you'd go into a bit of a coma. They had no guarantee how long it would be for, so you can imagine how much of a relief it is that you were only out a little less than two days."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Katie. I can't imagine having to deal with the uncertainty of it all," Harry apologized, looking down into his lap.

"Harry, it's not your fault you almost died, it's not your fault that your life being saved put you in a coma. You can't blame yourself for not being able to just spring up and dust yourself off from that within seconds."

"Where's everyone else?"

"Simon and the rest of the team are at the London office for the European Quidditch Association, appealing for a ban on that Beater, Lopéz. Damn coward hasn't even bothered to show his head around here. None of the _Mandragoras_ have."

"Is there any particular reason behind that? Maybe they wanted to check up on their playmaker first?" Harry suggested.

"Broken arm," Katie interjected. "Bones mended and discharged from the hospital within an hour. They all left after that. Back off to Madrid without so much as an apology or any well-wishing."

Harry sat there, speechless.

"Of course, Simon's absolutely ballistic. Well, we're all ballistic, but Simon's at his own personal level. I'm sure You-Know-Who would've run away crying if he were faced with Simon in the boss's current state. Only the fact that the officials at the office are self-righteous, pompous arses is saving them from wetting themselves in fear. They've said they'll 'Look into the matter' and then make a decision. Simon is mystified as to why they're not going to make a swift decision to hand out a life ban to the Beater."

Harry shifted into a slightly more comfortable sitting position.

"Any idea when I'm going to be let out?" he queried.

Katie shook her head, "I'd have to ask the healers. I'm sure that as long as you check out fine, you should be discharged fairly soon, they might just put you on bed rest for a little bit."

Harry groaned, "I don't think I could stand bed rest, I'd go insane."

"Harry, it's for your own good. If you rush back without the proper rest, you'd likely run the risk of making things worse for yourself and increasing chances of the injury recurring!" Katie protested.

Just as Katie finished her point, with seemingly impeccable timing, a healer walked into Harry's room.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, good to see you're up. If you don't mind, I'm going to perform a few check-ups just to ensure you're in a good state to be discharged," he declared.

After a few minutes of gentle prodding the back of Harry's head and gently rotating his head, the healer declared him fit to be discharged.

"I am, however, going to have to issue you a week's bed rest, unfortunately," he said, handing him a note that had finished being written with an enchanted quill off to the side. "A bludger hit as severe as this one and the concussion you received from it can only be healed by time and some good rest now. I'll be sending an owl to the club letting them know about my instructions, so don't think about slinking back to practice before you've been re-evaluated and cleared to return to play by your club healer."

A somewhat put-out Harry thanked the healer, who left the room so as to attend to other patients, and with that, Katie began to help Harry get ready to get discharged.

"A week's bed rest," Harry grumbled as they walked out arm-in-arm from the hospital, down a bustling Manchester street, Katie intending to treat him to a nice lunch. "I'm going to be going up the walls after a day."

"Harry, you have to promise me you'll take this seriously," she replied, concern rimming her eyes.

"I will!" he protested.

"Don't make me instruct Kreacher to do everything in his power to keep you in the house!" she threatened.

"I'm Kreacher's master, and you seem to forget that I'm the son of one of the legendary Marauders, and the godson of another."

"I can tell Kreacher that you leaving the house would be detrimental to your health and that he'd be failing his duties as a house elf, and also, you seem to forget that I was decently good friends with the Weasley twins for several years, so there's nothing you can do to escape that I haven't already anticipated."

Harry came to a full stop, almost falling as Katie almost pulled him over with her still-linked arm as she continued walking.

"What?" she asked, mystified and a little vexed at his unexplained stop.

"I'm only realizing now how truly shrewd, evil, and calculating your mind is," he stated, completely shocked.

"Harry, love, you're only beginning to scratch the surface of how devious my brain is," Katie teased as she tugged insistently on his arm, directing him over to a nearby Italian restaurant.

Once they'd been seated in a booth, they removed their coats and set them on the benches beside them. Harry glanced over the menu, not really knowing too much what he'd want to order, seeing as how most of the cooking he was used to was primarily British cuisine. He'd only really tried some French and Bulgarian cuisine during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and that was about it.

"I've no idea what to get," Harry told Katie in all honesty.

"I think we can order some lasagna and a small pizza and split both of them, that way you can sample both of them," Katie declared, just as a waiter came up, and she repeated her plan, the waiter giving a curt nod before heading off to pass on the instructions to the kitchen.

Some light conversation passed the time as they awaited their meal, sipping away at their drinks until the food came. A plate with a rather large slice of meat lasagna and a small pizza on a platter were placed in front of the couple.

Katie urged Harry to taste the lasagna and have a slice of the pizza before she'd indulge herself in either, wanting to see his reaction to his first samplings of both.

"I honestly don't know why it took me this long to discover these meals," Harry said through a mouthful of the pizza.

"Where would you be without me, Harry?" Katie asked teasingly.

"Miserable, rudderless, and oblivious to the wonders of Italian cuisine," Harry replied without missing a beat.

Katie leaned across and gave him a kiss.

"Good answer."

It was the third day of Harry's injury-induced break from Quidditch and he reasoned that it wasn't quite as bad as he'd made it out to be. Katie had spent most of her spare time at Grimmauld Place with him, spending each night there, only leaving for groceries, running her own errands, and- of course- practice.

Harry urged her to go meet up with some friends for the day, joking that he'd drive her crazy soon enough if she didn't get a break from tending to him. She'd acquiesced and arranged to meet up with Alicia and Angelina for a girl's day/reunion. Ron came to visit for the day, coming to keep his best friend company in Katie's stead.

Ron was in the process of filling Harry in on how practices were going, something Katie had neglected to do, preoccupied instead with Harry's well-being and making other small talk.

"The backup Seeker we have is decent on paper, but when he's compared to you, it just goes to show how good you are," Ron declared, his feet propped up on the kitchen table-an act which had earlier elicited a menacing growl from Kreacher.

"You can cut the flattery, Ron. Just because you're my best mate, doesn't mean you have to bash on the other Seeker to me. If he's on the team, it's for a reason."

"You really don't realize how good of a Seeker you are, do you?" Ron asked in wonder, shaking his head.

Harry stayed silent but frowned at Ron's question.

"You didn't know that you're closing in on several long-held Seeker records in professional Quidditch. You're only the fourth player in the history of the game to catch the Snitch in six consecutive games, and only two more Snitch catches in your next two matches to beating the record for most consecutive Snitch catches. On top of all the records you're smashing, you also defeated one of the most powerful dark wizards of our era. I'd say you're pretty good," Ron elaborated passionately.

Harry had nothing to say to that, simply sitting there in shock at Ron's rant, blinking in shock.

"I don't know if it had to do with the way the Dursleys raised you, mate, but you just can't help your modesty. After all we did at Hogwarts, one would generally get a little big-headed about their feats, but you've just taken it into stride, and that's why people love you, is because all the fame hasn't gotten to you," Ron finalised.

Harry sat back, simply nodded his thanks and they both took a swig of butterbeer.

The day had finally come for Harry to get back to training with the team. He was glad to be back in the swing of things, as his week on bed rest did have him practically climbing the walls in anxiety.

He was warmly greeted by his fellow teammates as he entered the dressing room, and began putting on his training gear. Harry could definitely say he savoured strapping on the padding, something he usually passed off as a tedious task. The air inside the stadium seemed to smell sweeter than it ever had.

"Welcome back, Potter," Simon said as he approached, giving Harry a firm handshake and a pat on the back.

"Good to be back, Simon," Harry replied in earnest. "Feels like I've barely played for the team."

"We had a few kinks to iron out and then that stupid tosser Lopéz went and hit that Bludger at you when the game was well over," Simon reasoned, the final part coming in a dark mutter.

"I tended to only need the single trip to the hospital wing during Quidditch season at Hogwarts, so maybe that's filled the quota," Harry joked.

"Right," Simon began, addressing the team as a whole as they gathered around the pair. "We've got Potter back, which is great, but we still have a lot of preparation for the Cannons game in a few days."

A snort emanated from the somewhere in the mass of players. Simon's head snapped up at that and he strode forwards and seized the backup Seeker, Rook, by the scruff of his training uniform.

"You think the Cannons are something to laugh at, Rook?" Simon demanded.

"Well, yeah…" Rook said.

Harry heard Ron call out an offended "Hey!" before he saw Simon shove Rook to the ground.

"YOU LOT LISTEN UP HERE!" he shouted. "I WILL NOT HAVE ANY OF YOU UNDERESTIMATING ANY OF OUR OPPONENTS, WHETHER IT BE A GAGGLE OF FIRST YEARS RIDING A BROOM FOR THE FIRST TIME OR THE BLOODY MANDRAGORAS!"

Harry shared his teammates' desire to find somewhere to curl up and hide from the stinging tone of Simon's words.

"The only way we are going to be the best team we can be is to treat our opponents with respect, no exceptions. Sure, the Cannons are last in the league, but you go out to the media and make some ill-advised comment regarding the Cannons, you can bet all your salary that their manager is going to have that posted in their locker room before the game, as fuel to the Cannons' fire. If I were in his position, I'd use any kind of motivation to get the best performance out of my players that I could!"

Everybody nodded their understanding.

"ROOK!" Simon roared, causing the aforementioned player to flinch.

"Y-yes?"

"I want you to picture that you're a Cannon. Your manager has just walked in with a clipping from the Daily Prophet emblazoned with slanderous words from an opposition player. How would that make you feel?"

"I'd probably feel angry about it," Rook admitted sheepishly.

"Damn right you would! Personally, I'd brush it off as a feeble attempt at mind-games from the reserve Seeker. You see Potter trash-talk the opposition, even if it's a seemingly innocent joke in practice? Potter's humble; he's focused, and doesn't underestimate the opposition. You should take a page from his book every now and then."

Rook just looked down dejectedly as Harry felt his cheeks warm from blush at Simon's words of him.

"Now, let's get to practice, shall we?" Simon said, and with that, the team kicked off and began going through the warm-ups.

***Slight bit shorter than the posts I like to make, but it's mostly because I want next chapter to be about the Cannons game and having the Dragons in the midst of their preparations seemed a good place to tie off this chapter. I'm posting this literally as I finish it, and I'm getting right to work on getting you that next chapter hopefully within the next few days! Until next time, thanks again! Let me know what's working for this story and what needs tweaking!***


	9. Chapter 9

***Hey everyone and welcome back! I hope you enjoyed last chapter, I found it a bit hard to power through, but I felt I needed to have a bit of a change of pace in that part of the story, hence that particular chapter. As promised, this is going right back into the swing of things with our beloved Dragons taking on Ron's beloved Cannons! So far in the story, the Dragons have been at home to the opposition, so this will be our first taste of what Away games will be like for the Dragons! As per usual, I don't own Harry Potter!***

Early in the morning of the Cannons game, the team convened at the stadium, all bleary eyed and in some cases fighting for all their life to stay awake. All their equipment and brooms were being assembled into a magically enhanced bag so as to allow easy carrying of all the necessary elements to the Dragons' match day proceedings.

"Right now, everybody out to the pitch, we've got a Portkey to grab," Simon announced, which was met with a groan from the exhausted players and staff.

"Reliable, quick means of group travel with no great risk of injury or misplacement," Simon explained.

At the very center of the park was what looked like a Quaffle. Well, a broken one, at least.

"Everybody tuck in, I'm sure you all know how this works," Simon encouraged.

It seemed almost as soon as everybody had established a touch-point on the Portkey, Harry felt the familiar tug as the Portkey yanked them out of their current setting, dropping them once more in the middle of a Quidditch stadium.

Harry looked around the stadium in wonder, seeing the bleachers full of orange seats waiting to be filled by supporters later that night. Patterns were stylized into the stands with an array of off-coloured seats to depict the iconic cannon logo of the Chudley Cannons. He smiled when he felt a familiar hand slip into his and the welcome form of Katie nuzzling up into his side.

"Wicked," he heard Ron breathe from beside him.

"You've never been here before?" Harry asked, a little bewildered that Ron had never been here to see a Cannons game.

"No," Ron said a little dejectedly. "We never were able to really afford it, so I just followed the game over the wizarding radio or saw the results in the Daily Prophet."

"Well, patience paid off," Harry replied with a smile. "Not only have you gotten here, but you get to play here."

"Alright everybody, we're heading up to our lounge in the stadium here for breakfast, to be prepared by the team chef," Simon explained. "After which, it's a light pre-game nap, then Harry and I have to go do the pre-match press conference, light warm-up, then it'll be game time countdown."

They all wandered up in unison to their designated lounge: a nice open area with a bird's eye view of the pitch through the room's floor-to-ceiling windows. For all intents and purposes, it was practically a bachelor pad. A kitchenette was tucked in the corner, along with several tables and the complete opposite side of the room had about twenty beds. The middle expanse had seating in front of the windows, allowing the occupants of the seats to look out onto the view of the pitch.

The chef prepared them one of his typical meals full of carbs but also of an extremely savoury variety that adhered to all the players' likings. With delightfully full bellies, they all trooped across the room to the beds and sunk into them gratefully, Harry vaguely registering that Katie had joined him on his and snuggled into his back, her one arm snaking itself around his torso protectively. He shifted so that he lay on his back and that Katie's head rested on his chest, her hand resting on his stomach lightly and his one arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her close. It was with her intoxicating smell filling his nostrils that he soon drifted off into pleasant dreams.

He was awoken by Simon gently shaking his shoulder.

"Up and at 'em, Potter. Time to face the reporters," he declared.

Harry slipped out from under Katie as gently as possible so as to not wake her prematurely before being handed a suit to don, after which he followed Simon once more through the winding corridors of the stadium. They began to encounter a few wizards here and there who pointed them along their way to the press room and soon enough, they were ushered in through a side entrance to the room which led onto the raised dais on which the press table was placed. They were then shown to their respective seats as a few cameras flashed.

"Here we have Simon Brown, manager of the Manchester Dragons along with team captain Harry Potter. If we could please keep any questions in relation to the match, thank you," the press officer droned off, before looking into the sea of reporters and pointing towards a raised hand of a reporter.

"Simon, what are your thoughts on today's opposition? Has your polar opposite fortunes had any bearing on the preparation of your team?" the reporter asked, a man with cropped salt-and-pepper hair.

"It hasn't had any effect on the way I've been instructing my players in the build-up. Any game you play, you can't count on form to carry you through a game. Once the Quaffle's in the air, it doesn't matter what position in the table you are, because this is a game of infinite variables and any number of them could tilt the game either way. I told my players I treat each team with the utmost respect and strive not to underestimate the capabilities of that team. The more objectively I can assess the team, the less room is leaved for errors due to complacency."

A few more cameras flashed after this. The press officer pointed towards another hand in the crowd.

"Harry, what are your thoughts on how the reserve Seeker, Rook, performed in your absence?"

"I think Rook did a brilliant job in the game against the Tranmere Trolls. He's a very skilled Seeker and I'm delighted to have him as part of the team, because goodness knows I wouldn't want to have to go up against him," Harry replied with a chuckle.

The press room erupted into laughs at his joke. After it died down, the press officer pointed to another hand in the very throng of the crowd: a slender, pale, feminine hand adorned with sickly green painted nails.

"Simon," the voice began, and Harry could swear he felt his stomach drop as he recognized the voice of none other than Rita Skeeter. "Rumour has it that you got into a spat with Rook in training the other day. Care to comment?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Simon said, with all the poise and conviction of someone used to dodging controversial questions from the media.

"It seems as though you got into a scuffle with Rook after he'd dismissed the Cannons' chances of winning the game and you then grabbed him by the front of his shirt to lecture him before pushing him to the ground," Rita recited.

"It was a misunderstanding between him and I, I got a little carried away in the moment and said some critical things to him that I shouldn't have said," Simon replied evenly.

"So, you're not denying it?" Rita asked, an eyebrow quirked in challenge, a sick smile spreading on her face.

"I didn't say it was true-"Simon began.

"Nor did you expressly deny it," Rita interjected.

This caused all the reporters to begin scribbling furiously on their notepads.

"Rook made some naïve comments about the Cannons, comments which were disrespectful towards the club and are most certainly not representative of what we have to say as a team," Harry said calmly, his voice cutting through the excited babble of the reporters at the prospect of a juicy scoop. "We have the utmost respect for the Cannons, as Simon said and things got a little heated after Rook's comments. The whole thing happened because we've all been putting some pressure on ourselves to succeed. We want to win every game and sometimes that stress turns us into shades of the people we really are, so it's not a true representation of the types of people we are. Having trained with Rook for a few months now, I know that he's a lot wiser with his words and much more tactful than he was the other day. He's a great lad and a fantastic player, who-again- we're very fortunate to have among our ranks."

Harry's statement was measured, diplomatic, and as he saw from the furious scratching of quills, exactly what was needed to defuse a potential field day for the newspapers. After a few seconds of silence, the press officer pointed to a reporter who'd raised their hand.

"Last question, please," the press officer prefaced, before indicating to the reporter to proceed with his question.

"Harry, what do you feel you and your teammates have to do today to get the win you're striving for?"

"Well," Harry began.

The rest of the press conference had gone well, to the point where Harry had earned himself a back-thumping from Simon as they walked back to the lounge to meet up with the rest of the team ahead of the warm-up. They all went down to the changing room and changed into their training gear, going out onto the pitch to some scattered cheers and a jeer here and there from the few spectators who'd arrived early to the match.

They all went through their motions as a group, stretching first before taking off and going through their flying drills. Harry had grabbed a practice Quaffle and was giving Ron warm up shots before he passed it off to Katie for the Chasers to go through passing drills and then do a shooting procession on Ron for further warming up. Harry noted that Fletcher and Anderson were on top form, batting a Bludger back and forth between them with speed and a few times flair.

Simon called them back to the pitch once their warm up time was done and they trooped back into their dressing room. As they changed into their proper match uniforms, Simon gave a last rundown of his tactics for the game.

"Possession, possession, possession! That is the name of our game today!" he said. "We need to dominate this game as much as the odds on paper figure we should. The less they can get the Quaffle, the less of a threat they pose. Potter, you just focus on getting us that Snitch. But for Merlin's sake, try not to get hit by a Bludger again?"

The team chuckled at that and at that moment, the signal went off for the team to head out onto the pitch. The players lined up behind Harry and as one they marched out and onto the pitch, this time to a roar of reception as the Cannons had accompanied them out. They shook hands and got themselves into position for the start of the game, and soon enough the referee obliged by releasing the Quaffle, two Bludgers, and the Golden Snitch, which promptly disappeared. Harry saw Katie zip in and grab the Quaffle right from the off before he focused his efforts on scouting about for the Snitch.

The Cannons' fans were in full voice, singing some of the most beloved anthems of their players, whilst the travelling minority of Dragons fans replied with classics such as "Weasley Is Our King", "We Got Potter", and "Katie Bell, the Golden Girl". The last one had been an original composition of the Dragons fans, rather than being adopted from Gryffindors. The Dragons fans had taken to loving Katie, due to her prolific points totals since her arrival into the team. At her current rate, she was on course to equal and perhaps eclipse the club record of one thousand one hundred points in a single season, set some fifty years ago by club legend Bobby Gordon.

Some time had passed and Harry was only vaguely aware of how the match had been progressing, knowing only that the Dragons were winning quite heavily.

He tuned into the game to see Katie force a turnover of the Quaffle in the Dragons end and proceed to fly it up the other end of the pitch, dodging a clumsy attempt at a tackle from a pursuing Cannons Chaser, then pulling off a deft one-handed handstand on her broom to avoid an on-rushing Bludger sent by one of the Cannons' Beaters. Anderson saw to it that the Bludger was returned to sender, with a bit of interest. Harry then refocused on Katie as she faked a shot to the near hoop before hurling the Quaffle to the opposite hoop, leaving the hapless Cannons keeper flying towards the near hoop to stop a shot that had never come.

A groan rose from the crowd as the Cannons found themselves further behind. Harry just had the time to register this before he saw the Chudley Seeker zip off towards his own goalposts, and that's when he saw the Snitch. It was hovering around the goalposts midway down, circling around it a few times. Harry flattened himself on his broomstick, willing it to go the maximum speed to try and make up for his disadvantage. He'd drawn level with the Cannons' Seeker when the latter attempted to body-check Harry. Knowing the consequences of taking even the slightest hit at this speed, Harry jumped straight up off his broom and did a sideways somersault to land on his opponent's other side, perfectly landing back on his broom. At this point though, they were both zipping past the wrong side of the goal post and Harry reached out and grabbed the post to swing himself about in a u-turn as the Snitch made a beeline for the opposite side of the pitch. Harry stayed with it, and it was staying just out of his reach.

"Look out!" he heard Anderson shout and Harry only just realized he was on a crash course with Ron. Before he could adjust, he slammed into his friend, and they were both unseated. Things seemed to slow down for Harry, and as they flew through the hoop, he saw the Snitch hovering near his shoulder. He promptly grabbed it with one hand, before grabbing onto the bottom of the ring as he felt Ron latch onto his leg. The momentum swung them back towards their brooms, which they expertly remounted in unison.

The away section roared its approval at the confirmed win for the Dragons, which saw them open up a lead at the top of the British Quidditch League.

"And that's the end of it! Manchester Dragons, 500. Chudley Cannons, 0. Ron Weasley has now become only the fourth keeper in Quidditch history to keep a clean sheet with that win! This also marks Harry Potter's _seventh_ consecutive Snitch catch, making him only the second Seeker in Quidditch history to do so! If he can catch it next game, it's a new record! Katie Bell's two hundred points did set a record of its own tonight, as she continued her unstoppable quest to better Bobby Gordon's record for most points in a season for the Dragons!" the announcer declared.

Harry congregated with his teammates for a muted celebration, out of respect to their opponents, so as to not rub it in their faces. Once done, they flew over to the Cannons players and shook hands with them. With that, they all alighted and walked into the dressing room, to find a smiling Simon slowly applauding them as they walked in.

"That's what I like to see!" he called out. "Potter, Bell: whatever you two have been eating, so long as it's within the laws of the game; keep eating it. Because you two have been in scintillating form!"

The team whooped at that.

"Hey, I spend all game squinting around the pitch until I see a tiny golden ball; it's the rest of you who do all the important work that's been getting us these results!" Harry countered, earning some laughs and a few protestations. "Ron was incredible today, Katie was unstoppable; everyone was perfect today!"

"Mate, apart from nearly killing me, that was a brilliant catch," Ron teased, but was still earnest about his compliment of the catch.

An owl suddenly flew in and delivered a roll of parchment to Simon before departing.

"It's an advance copy of tomorrow's Prophet," Simon explained, before unfurling it to show the headline: 'Chudley Cannons Misfire Against Manchester Dragons Trailblazing Young Guns'.

The accompanying photo showed a moving picture depicting a few of Katie's goals as well as Harry's catch, spliced in with a few spectacular saves from Ron.

"Now, I'm not big on the press and their opinions and coverage of Quidditch, but for once I can agree with what they've published. That was the perfect game out there! That's why I have that mentality of never underestimating an opponent. It allows you the objectivity necessary to properly prepare for and handle the opposition," Simon explained, earning faithful nods from the grinning players.

"That being said, let's head back to the Portkey that way you lot can go enjoy yourselves, because you've deserved it!"

The team made their way to a local wizarding pub to celebrate the win. Harry found himself at a booth with Katie at his side and Ron sitting across them, several empty bottles of Firewhiskey and Butterbeer decorating his side of the table.

They were currently laughing as Katie told an old story from Hogwarts.

"-and he ended up accidentally vanishing his pants!" Katie said, laughing heartily. "So, then Flitwick dismissed him from class to go grab a new pair!"

Harry thumped the table as he laughed, Ron sitting there chuckling a little lazily. There was a small little lull after they all finished laughing.

"I think I'm gonna do it," Ron cried out suddenly.

Harry and Katie frowned at him.

"I'm gonna Apparate over to Hermione's and win her back!" Ron elaborated drunkenly, before tripping out of the booth and Apparating before either of them could say anything.

"_Damn_," Harry whispered, before he and Katie got out of the booth and Apparated over to Hermione's.

When they got there, it was to witness a strange scene. Hermione was standing in a bathrobe, which she was clutching around her tightly with her left arm, her right arm raised with wand in hand. The wand was trained on Ron, who was on his knees in front of Hermione, looking up at her pleadingly.

"Hermione!" Harry cried out. "Listen, we're sorry, he had a few too many drinks after the game. He thought it'd be a good idea to Apparate over here and try to win you back. I'm honestly surprised he didn't splinch himself apparating."

"Listen, we'll get him out of here, he's in a pretty sorry state, so we'll make sure he gets back home," Katie said, and she and Harry started forward to haul Ron to his feet.

Hermione held up a hand at this, and they dropped Ron, only for the latter to slump down to the floor, passed out.

"It's fine, honestly. He can stay here tonight," she said calmly. "I'll set him up here on the couch and make sure he rides out the hangover."

Harry and Katie simply traded a look before Katie laid a hand on Harry's arm gently.

"I'll see you back at Grimmauld Place?" she asked.

Harry nodded and she left with a _crack_.

"You sure you'll be alright, Hermione?" Harry asked. "If not, I can get him back to his flat and take care of him."

"No, I'm fine, Harry," Hermione smiled. "Besides, Ron and I have a few outstanding matters we've had to sort out. This seems like a pretty good chance to do that. Well, once he's sober, that is."

Harry and Hermione chuckled at that.

"Did you at least want me to help you get him onto the couch?" Harry offered, and Hermione acquiesced.

Once they'd lifted Ron onto the couch, Hermione summoned a blanket and covered Ron with it. Hermione then walked into her bathroom and grabbed a bucket, which she set beside Ron's head. Harry gave Hermione a questioning look.

"Oh, please, Harry," Hermione said. "Ron and I were together long enough that I'd had to take care of him on more than one occasion when he'd done some drinking."

Harry smiled at that, and stepped forward to hug Hermione.

"It was good seeing you again, Hermione," Harry stated. "You should come over for dinner at Grimmauld Place some time."

"I'll try," Hermione replied, hugging him back. "I'll send an owl to let you know what the next week's looking like for me, alright?"

Harry nodded as he stepped back, before Apparating away, back to Grimmauld Place, finding Katie in the kitchen, the latter drinking a glass of water to rehydrate.

"Ten to one says they get back together," Katie called out.

Harry laughed.

"I wouldn't doubt it for a second," Harry said as he came up behind Katie and wrapped his arms around her. "Bicker as they might, they're meant for each other."

***Thanks so much to everyone for bearing with this story! I'm so happy to read all the positive feedback you guys have been leaving me! I'm definitely going to take advantage of this vein of inspiration I seem to have struck and try to get into a groove where I can keep putting up chapters for you fantastic people! Until next we meet!***


	10. Chapter 10

***Alrighty, so off the back of the Cannons game, I figured I'd treat you all to a return to the Dragons' European exploits! Once again, you've all been fantastic and I can't thank you enough for your continued support! I don't own Harry Potter!***

Harry woke up in the morning, buzzing from the moment his eyes opened. Game day had that effect on him. As he went through his morning preparations, he had that extra spring in his step.

"Master Harry is well this morning?" Kreacher asked as Harry sat down at the table, the house elf setting down a plate of Harry's usual game day breakfast.

"I am fantastic today, Kreacher!" Harry enthused. "Thank you so much for asking!"

Harry dug into his meal after that, polishing off the plate in record time.

"That was simply exquisite, Kreacher," Harry said, patting Kreacher on the side as he walked over to the sink with his dishes.

Kreacher made an indignant sound.

"Leave the dishes, Master Harry!" he shouted. "Kreacher can do them!"

"It's fine, Kreacher. I can do a few dishes. You can have the day off," Harry said.

Kreacher gaped.

"D-Day off?" Kreacher stammered incredulously.

"Yeah!"

"But, what'll Kreacher do?"

"I dunno, but here's a few Galleons!" Harry said, handing Kreacher a few golden coins. "Go buy yourself something nice!"

Kreacher let out an incomprehensible cry of unbridled joy as he jumped. He briefly wrapped his arms around Harry's leg in a quick hug before Disapparating.

Harry had a chuckle as he finished up the dishes before gathering what he needed and Apparating to Everlast Stadium. He walked into the dressing room and beheld his teammates all in various stages of preparation.

They all greeted him before he sat down at his cubicle. He got a quick kiss from Katie, who'd just walked in and passed by him to go to the washroom to change.

As he changed and was in the process of putting on his pads, he saw Ron looking at the charm for a necklace he had on. Harry could swear it looked like an otter.

"What's that?" Harry asked, causing Ron to jump and hurriedly stuff the necklace into his shirt.

Ron gave Harry a bewildered look and Harry returned a look that read _I saw what you had there_. Ron's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"It's this necklace that Hermione gave me this morning, as a good luck token," Ron explained.

"So you two are back together again?" Harry asked, a smile adorning his face.

Ron blushed at that, yet still smiled as he nodded.

"When did this happen?" Harry egged him on.

"Erm, day after the Cannons game. I woke up all hungover and she took care of me. We sort of talked it over and decided to get back together," Ron replied, a goofy expression overcoming him as he reminisced.

"Bell! You owe me ten sickles!" Harry called out.

"DAMMIT!" they heard Katie curse.

"Wait, you two bet on this?" Ron asked incredulously.

"We bet each other how long it would take for you two to get back together after we left. Katie bet it'd happen that night, I said the day after."

"And what if we didn't get back together?" Ron challenged.

Harry simply gave Ron a look that indicated the stupidity of the question.

"Oh, right," Ron laughed.

Katie walked back over to her cubicle beside Harry, reaching into her purse and grabbing a few sickles, which she counted out before handing them to Harry.

"Thank you kindly, dear," Harry said, making to kiss Katie on the cheek, but she squirmed away.

"Piss off, Potter," she replied in a tone that indicated she wasn't actually mad at Harry.

It was at that moment that Simon walked into the room.

The players all cheered.

"Thank you, thank you," the manager said, bowing a few times. "Right, so we're up against _Die Hippogreifen_. If you thought the _Mandragoras_ were tough, this lot will put that to shame. They're an extremely efficient unit, an almost flawless style of play. They're undefeated in over thirty straight games. Now, they've got possibly the best keeper in the game in Gerd Horst. Now, the way this team have plied their trade is by hitting teams on the counter. The league they play in is another one that's very possession-based, and so their manager's devised a system where they lure their opponents into a sense of control of possession, meanwhile Horst is pulling off save after save, before they hit their opponents with a counter-attack. Their Chasers are among the best fliers in the league, so they'll outstrip you like it's nothing. It also doesn't help that their Seeker's damn good as well."

"Are you trying to make us feel sorry for ourselves?" Ron joked.

They all laughed.

"No, Weasley. I'm just giving you all a very good idea of what to expect with this lot. Here's what we're going to do, then: I want us to play their game. We're going to invite pressure onto ourselves and let them dominate possession. Weasley, you're our Horst. Show them what a real keeper's made of. Bell and Smalling, I want you to try and break up their passes so we can get those counters started. Cleverley, I'm actually going to have you on the bench. Shaw, you'll be starting with Bell and Smalling."

The team stirred as they beheld the change from the normal lineup. The youngest player on the team, Trevor Shaw, was being given his Dragons debut.

"Now, Shaw; I want you playing as a true two-way Chaser. I want you to drop deep when Smalling and Bell head to the hoops, be open for the link-up pass, but the moment the Quaffle is in one of the oppositions' hands, I want you right back in our end to defend it. This lot get a lot of their points off the counter because they're almost right away three chasers versus a keeper, so we're going to try and limit their chances of doing that. In summary, we're forcing them into an unfamiliar style of play, hitting them on the break, and then trying to disrupt them when they try to get back in their own element. Any questions?"

They all shook their heads and the starters lined up to go out onto the pitch. Before Harry could take his place at the front, Simon stopped him.

"Harry, don't forget that you're up against one of the best Seekers in the game. Go out there and show everyone who's the undisputable top Seeker in the game," Simon explained, giving Harry a thump on the back to urge him on.

With that, Harry led the Dragons onto the immaculate grassy playing surface of Everlast Stadium, the place practically shaking from the volume of the unified songs of Dragons supporters. Harry's body felt like a coiled spring from the atmosphere. He couldn't wait for the whistle. The opposition for tonight walked over and they all shook hands before they all mounted their brooms and took to the skies, awaiting the release of the Quaffle, Bludgers and the Snitch.

Time seemed to slow for a second as Harry awaited the start of the game. It seemed like an eternity had passed before the shrill whistle cut through the din, and the crowd roared its approval, as the red-robed Dragons flew into attack after Katie's receipt of the Quaffle.

Harry surveyed the field below him as he circled above, like a bird of prey. As Simon had instructed, the Dragons were inviting pressure onto themselves from their German counterparts. The opposition Chasers couldn't seem to find an opening and were resorting to cycling the Quaffle amongst themselves, until a slightly underthrown pass gave an opening for Katie to intercept the Quaffle and zoom down the length of the pitch before sending the Quaffle through the left hoop.

The crowd erupted into cheers at the point as Katie flew back diligently to join the other Chasers in their defensive duties.

The game went on as such, with _Die Hippogreifen _getting the occasional goal, but otherwise, the Dragons had been watertight defensively and positively devastating on the counter-attack. Trevor Shaw, the new inclusion as Chaser, was having an incredible game. He was following Simon's instructions to a 'T' and was instrumental in breaking up the few counter-attacks the other team were able to put together. The way he was linking up with Katie and Smalling made it seem as if they'd been playing together all year.

Harry caught the occasional fleeting glimpse of the Snitch before it disappeared again. Both he and his opposite number, Muller, would start towards it before retreating back to their overlooking positions once the Snitch disappeared.

Katie had once again broken free for a counter attack and gotten herself into shooting range when one of the opposing Chasers tugged back on her broom. Harry zipped in immediately to discuss with the referee, only to hear the crowd cry out. Harry's head snapped around and he saw Muller flying towards what was unmistakeably the Snitch. Harry promptly sped off towards it, going full speed and narrowly avoiding collisions with other players, both friend and foe. He soon caught up and pulled ahead of Muller, and turned sharply in front of him to correspond with the Snitch's flight path.

His manoeuver caused him to smash into Muller, unseating the both of them. The impact somersaulted him in the air, somehow registering the fact that Muller had crashed to the ground, unconscious. As he began hurtling to the ground himself, Harry noticed his broom's trajectory was going to be within arm's reach soon, so he prayed as he flung his arm out and caught a hold of his broom, instinct then kicking in as he manipulated himself back into a seating position and sped off in pursuit of the Snitch.

He vaguely registered the fact that the _Hippogreifen_ players were livid. The Beaters were attempting to hit him with Bludgers, unsuccessfully. Harry got himself into arm's reach and closed his hand around the familiar shape of the Snitch.

He got himself down to the pitch and dismounted, grinning at sealing the win up for the Dragons. Just as the other players dismounted, a curse was sent his way by a _Hippogreifen_ player who was charging his way. Harry drew his wand in record time and parried the curse. At the sight of this, both teams surged forward to clash.

The referee took no niceties in her dismount, running into the epicenter of the clash.

"Calm down! CALM DOWN!" she roared. "What's the issue here?!"

"He tried to curse me!" Harry shouted, pointing at the offending player.

"It's only because he purposefully took out our Seeker!" the opponent roared, writhing against the restraining arms of his teammates.

"I did not!" Harry protested. "I was trying to follow the path of the Snitch, and he didn't change direction! We crashed into each other! I was unseated too, you saw that!"

"HE LIES!" the _Hippogreifen _player screamed, as his teammates carried him away.

"You have to believe, I didn't mean him any harm!" Harry pleaded of the referee.

"The result stands, Potter," the referee replied curtly. "However, I'm afraid there will be an investigation into your incident with Mr. Muller. Rest assured that corrective action will be taken against Mr. Matias, though."

With that, the referee walked away and the Dragons retreated back to their dressing room.

The players all sat at their lockers, waiting for Simon to walk in. When he did, it was at a brisk pace.

"Good game. Potter, my office, now," Simon said, not breaking pace as he exited.

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he exchanged glances with Ron and Katie.

He trooped out of the dressing room and made the short trip to Simon's office. He knocked on the door when he reached it.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, get your arse in here Potter!" Simon shouted through the door.

Harry rushed in and took a seat opposite the desk from his manager.

Simon regarded him for a good minute before he got up, walked to a cabinet in the corner and poured himself a tumbler of Firewhiskey from the bottle on top of the cabinet. He downed the liquid and slammed the tumbler on the cabinet- which caused Harry to jump- before he turned back to face Harry.

"CAN YOU NOT GO TWO GAMES WITHOUT HAVING SOME SORT OF AN INCIDENT OR ANOTHER?!" Simon bellowed.

Harry sat in stunned silence for a moment, taking in the sight of Simon breathing heavily as he leaned on the desk, staring daggers at Harry.

"Sir, I-" Harry started.

"No, you listen here Potter," Simon cut him off, pointing a menacing finger at Harry. "Reckless catches causing injuries, loss of form due to temperament, and now this. I realize that you have your own side to the story, which will very likely be heard if this issue needs to go before the European Quidditch Tribunal. The referee will doubtless be sending her memory of the incident to the Tribunal for assessment as we speak, while it's still fresh in her mind and less susceptible to second-guesses and tampering."

Simon sighed while Harry drank this information in.

"Sir, I swear it was an accident. What'll they do if they don't buy that explanation?" Harry asked.

"Well, they'll ensure that any statement you make will be of the truest nature. In this sport, you'd have players say anything to try and lessen or avoid punishments, so they've had to find means of ensuring that the players are truthful, willingness be damned," Simon explained. "Again, this will all depend on what the Tribunal gathers from the memory of the referee. If they find that memory provides sufficient evidence as to make a decision either way, they'll act then and there, if not, they'll summon you for a hearing to take statements and make the decision then."

Harry nodded his understanding.

"Son, if they find you guilty for whatever reason, they could potentially ban you from Quidditch," Simon admitted in a sober tone. "As it stands, they'll want you out of the side until a verdict's reached."

Harry slumped down in his seat, rolling the Snitch over in his hand.

"At least it's a hell of a way to go out if they decide to ban me," Harry commented.

"How's that?"

"This Snitch," Harry said, holding it up. "It's the record consecutive catch. So, either way, my name goes down in history."

"Oh, because defeating one of the greatest dark wizards of all time wasn't good enough," Simon muttered.

They both looked at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing.

"Such an inappropriate time to be laughing," Simon managed through his chuckles.

Harry was laughing too hard to speak, so simply opted to nod his head.

"Anyways, let's get back to the team. This was a huge win, no matter the circumstances surrounding it. We're getting together for a team celebration. I figure as manager, it's my turn to host. I just hope Weasley passes out again! The look on his face when he woke up with the bottle outline was priceless!"

They trooped back to the dressing room and once in, Harry walked straight to his locker, grabbing his toiletries to have ready and sat down.

"Alright, sorry about that, just had to speak to Harry about how things are going to pan out for the incident that happened at the end," Simon explained to the team.

They all started protesting at the same time.

"That's totally unfair!"

"He didn't mean it!"

"The other bloke tried to curse him!"

"QUIET!" Simon shouted over the babble.

Everyone promptly shut up.

"Everyone has a different view on the matter. A lot of us may see it from a biased perspective. The only person who had an impartial view of the matter has sent their memory into the European Quidditch Tribunal for inspection of the incident. Until a decision's reached, Harry is going to be suspended from playing. Now, all we can do is wait and hope that Potter's side of the story is the one they see to be the truth. We can't let this set us back, however. We're off to the best start to a season that this club has ever seen!"

They all cheered.

"We've got a shoe-in for the Chaser of the Year in our talented Katie Bell!" Simon cried out.

Harry and his teammates roared their approval.

"Our captain is the best Seeker in the game, and damn it, has shown tonight he is a human wrecking ball on a broomstick!"

Laughs mixed in with the cheers.

"In Ron here, we've got a keeper with the rawest talent seen in centuries of the game!"

Cat-calls of "Weasley!" bounced around the dressing room.

"That's only the start," Simon declared. "Each and every member of this squad is incredibly gifted. As seen by Trevor's performance today, each person in our team is capable of slotting in and maintaining the status quo."

They were all nodding at this, and Harry got up and stood beside Simon.

"Don't worry about me, you lot," Harry said. "Rook's going to be brilliant, I know it. I'll be up for a fight for my place when I come back, as I've been from the moment I got here."

As he said this, he looked over to Rook, who smiled and nodded back to Harry in thanks for his support.

"Good luck getting it back," Rook joked.

"Let's get cleaned up and changed, everyone! Party's at Simon's!" Harry called out, earning whoops of approval from his teammates as they leapt into action.

Harry went over to his locker and began taking off the outer layers of his Quidditch uniform when he felt a presence behind him.

"You're awfully calm considering you're being led up to the potential guillotine on your career," Katie remarked.

"To be honest, Katie, I'm terrified. Nothing is more liberating than flying for me. Playing Quidditch has just brought me so much joy from the moment Wood taught me the basics. To lose that would be like losing a part of me," Harry replied, spinning around and giving Katie a kiss before heading off to the showers.

Once under the hot stream of water, Harry couldn't stop the images that flashed through his mind. Memories from Hogwarts; from walking into the great hall for the first time to his lessons with Dumbledore's Army. The memories that came back to him the most were either of Quidditch or of Katie. Even then, both seemed to go hand in hand for the most part.

He couldn't lose Quidditch as much as he could lose Katie. Of that, Harry was certain.

***Much as I know it seems like something dramatic is happening every other game for Harry, I figured something like this issue would bring some balance and some tension since things have been just so great and rosy for Harry and the Dragons up until now!***


	11. Chapter 11

***Hey everyone! First off, how are all of you? It's been a while! For that, I apologize profusely. Life's been crazy for me, extremely stressful lately and I haven't gotten the chance to sit down and get in the proper mindset to write this for you all! My radio silence has been as much about me having my sanity time as also ensuring that I can deliver you the writing you deserve, rather than writing something absurdly sub-par for the sake of posting something! I hope you're all able to understand my reasoning for that. As ever, I do not own Harry Potter! Enjoy!***

As ever, Harry's anxiety at the lack of Quidditch grew as time dragged its feet reluctantly closer to the date of his hearing. It killed him to be stuck on the sidelines watching the Dragons play, not being able to be a part of proceedings and be able to influence them more than simply being a moral boost supporting from the stands.

Finally the day rolled around, and Harry was getting dressed, bleary-eyed and disheveled before downing a coffee and running a comb through his hair pointlessly whilst a razor shaved at his stubble of its own accord. He finally settled for having his hair mostly under control, looking significantly tamer than it normally was.

He looked himself over in the full-length mirror in his room, closely scrutinizing the robes he was wearing, which were very reminiscent of a Muggle suit, with a matching over-robe. He took the letter he'd received regarding the location and time of the hearing and Apparated to the courthouse at which the trial was going to be held.

He found his legs carrying him up to the administration desk and he soon spoke up. His brain felt numb and as though all he was doing or saying was borne of some sort of automatism in him.

He barely registered his body transporting him to the courtroom in question and seating himself in the indicated seat, only snapping to attention when the judge's gavel finally slammed down. The change was instantaneous, and Harry was suddenly hyper-aware.

He took an inventory of both his team and Simon, as well as the entire _Hippogreifen _team, including their Seeker, Muller, with him in the role of the victim in this day's case. He also took in the panel of Quidditch officials from each of the countries participating in the Cup, who were to act as jury for this hearing.

The judge spoke up: "As I'm sure you're all aware, the following hearing will be to determine whether the accused, Harry James Potter, is guilty of illegal use of force as a means of interference in the recent match between the Manchester Dragons and _Die Hippogreifen_. The facts are as follows: prior to the capture of the Golden Snitch by Mr. Potter, a turning manoeuver employed by Mr. Potter resulted in a collision between himself and Mr. Muller, which caused them both to be unseated from their brooms, with Mr. Muller being rendered unconscious. The purpose of this hearing is to ascertain if Mr. Potter's actions were intentional or if it was, as he has pleaded, an accident. The jury will hear testimonies from both of the players, as well as from the referee of the match, who has provided their memory of their incident for inspection by the members of the jury."

The judge paused after this to survey the courtroom and ensure that his words were heard and understood, as some of the members of the panel were no doubt employing translation charms.

"The courtroom would like to call upon Mr. Potter to make his way to the stand to give his testimony," the judge announced and with that, Harry rose to his feet and walked over to the witness stand.

As Harry sat down, he was well aware that all eyes in the room were locked onto him.

"Please state your full name for the record."

"Harry James Potter."

"Mr. Potter is it true that you were involved in a collision with Mr. Muller during the conclusion of the Quidditch match between the Manchester Dragons and _Die Hippogreifen_?"

"Yes, it is true."

"Was it your intention to collide with Mr. Muller?"

"No, it was not my intention."

"Would you please care to explain to the members of the jury what caused you to execute the manoeuver that caused the collision?"

"I was simply following the Snitch. It had taken a sharp turn and in following its trajectory and making a correspondingly sharp turn, I flew into Muller and collided with him."

"So your manoeuver was not meant to unseat and/or injure Mr. Muller."

"No, it wasn't."

"As such, you stand by your plea for innocence in this incident?"

"That is correct."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter, you may return to your seat until further called upon."

Harry did as he was instructed and exhaled a breath he didn't remember holding once he sat back down. Though he was being totally honest, the attention and intense scrutiny that came with the witness stand was nerve-wracking.

Muller was next, taking the spot Harry had vacated at the witness stand. The procedure was similar to begin with, and then questions were asked of him about his awareness of the situation at the time, to Harry's turn, and finally questions of him purposefully putting himself in Harry's way to draw the collision or even to try and block Harry off. Harry caught the faintest flicker of uncertainty when the latter two questions were leveled at Muller.

Once Muller was finished atop the stand, the judge excused himself as well as the jury to recess to inspect the memory of the referee.

The Aurors surveying proceedings escorted the two teams to separate rooms for the duration of the recess.

Harry found himself being encouraged by his teammates.

"You did well up there, Harry. As long as the jury knows you're innocent, you have nothing to worry about," Simon declared.

Katie chimed in: "I'm sure they also picked up on Muller's reactions during his testimony. He hesitated slightly when they asked him if he tried to block you off."

"You'll be fine, mate," Ron provided, laying a supporting hand on Harry's shoulder.

Once the recess was over, they were escorted back to the courtroom and saw the members of the jury whispering occasionally between themselves, comparing little notes here or there. It seemed as though they'd reached a general consensus and were just reviewing a few details.

"Mr. Potter, please stand," the judge demanded.

Harry got to his feet, anxiety humming through his limbs.

"Mr. Potter, the jury has examined the statements as well as the memory of the incident as provided by the match referee and has come to a unanimous conclusion. The jury has found that for the charges of illegal use of force as a means of interference, Harry James Potter has been found innocent, as the statements and evidence provided confirm the accidental nature of his involvement in the aforementioned incident. The playing ban imposed on Mr. Potter is lifted effective immediately.

"Furthermore, the jury has concluded that Mr. Muller is guilty unsportsmanlike conduct due to his intentional attempt to block off Mr. Potter in the same incident, as well as finding him guilty of perjury in relation to his statement, providing false facts in an effort to force a guilty verdict upon Mr. Potter."

At this, there was a simultaneous reaction from both sides; cheers and expressions of relief from Harry and his teammates, juxtaposed with the outrage and indignation from their German counterparts.

"All ruling on this is final. Mr. Muller will serve a six-month ban from all Quidditch activity, as well as paying a one thousand galleon fine for his act of perjury."

With that, the judge slammed his gavel and exited the courtroom, followed closely by the jury. Harry and the Dragons took this as their cue to promptly exit the courtroom, all of them agreeing to meet up at Simon's in about an hour.

As his teammates apparated away, Harry felt Katie sidle up to him and slip her arm through his.

"Hey you," she said quietly.

"Hey yourself," Harry replied, giving Katie a quick kiss.

"Glad you're innocent," Katie beamed.

"That's an understatement," he muttered, causing her to laugh.

"Everything about what just happened in there was pretty complicated and intense. I figured I'd stick to the basics now that that's all done and over with."

"Fair enough," Harry reasoned. "I suppose they're not too happy, seeing as how they flipped the accusations right onto Muller and found him guilty."

"That's an understatement," Katie mimicked.

"Should I maybe be worried about being hexed the next time I set foot in Germany?" Harry asked.

"No, probably not, I'd reckon. You might want to have your Invisibility Cloak at the ready next time you plan to go, though."

"So, your place or mine?" Harry queried.

"Getting a little ahead of ourselves, are we, Mr. Potter?" Katie shot back.

"I've just found out my Quidditch career is safe for the time being, so excuse me if I want to sit down and have a nice meal with my girlfriend," Harry replied sardonically.

Katie laughed.

"You're such an idiot," she giggled.

"As long as I'm your idiot boyfriend, I'm fine with that," he said, kissing her before apparating back to Grimmauld Place.

***All right! So, Harry's Quidditch career is safe! This chapter's a little shorter than some of my more recent entries have been, as I wanted to keep the focus of this chapter solely on the trial and also because I wanted to get the trial out of the way, as it was a little more difficult to find inspiration for, before I plunge back into the fun, fun world of Quidditch! :D Thank you so much to any and all who have read, reviewed, and followed the story! Your support and feedback means the world to me! Until next time, keep it classy!***


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